"We are the Boyle Family, who proudly use the name "BraveBoyle" to represent our CHOC journey and home away from home. Our CHOC story began on January 27th, 2016, when Madelyn and Ella were playing at a park after school. Ella ran over for a snack and as I rubbed her arms to keep her warm, I felt a mass on the outside of her upper right arm. In the next 24 hours, our world was no longer parks, play dates, and homework but instead a series of tests and appointments. Just the day before I was worried about her friendships and school lunches and all of a sudden my husband and I were sitting with our daughter in front of us on a hospital bed, hearing the words "aggressive", "stage one" and "cancer". Ella was 4 at the time, blond crazy hair, blue eyes and a personality that was sassy and spunky since birth. She faced the first blood draw, MRI, Xray, and PETScan all with the same dazzling smile that kept us all going. This is just a bad dream...it must be. Over the next few days, we waited at home for her biopsy results when Dr. Rubin informed us that Ella had Stage1 Ewings Sarcoma. This Cancer attacked both her bone and soft tissue so intensely that everyone said it was a miracle we found this when we did. A miracle is what we have been given so a miracle is what we fought for and on February 11th, she began her first round of Chemotherapy."
"We walked onto the 5th floor knowing nothing. As the elevator door opened a sense of responsibility overwhelmed us. There is no way to turn around or just pull to the side and take a breather. Aggressive was the word, so aggressive is how we must fight. Darren and I listened, we watched, and we slowly began to understand this was moment by moment. CHOC's core of living is supporting the parent while helping them parent in the most challenging of situations. It is giving the children goals to meet each day, expectations of the day, they had a job to do. Drinking water, trying to eat, brushing their teeth and walking ....those were the big ones. Darren and I realized these routines were so important to instill in the first few rounds of Chemotherapy because as the rounds went on, the energy disappeared and the pain won....we relied on that routine. You drink, you eat, you brush and you get pushed in a wagon instead of walking but we move.
After 14 rounds of Chemotherapy, Ella's nickname, our mantra - BRAVEBOYLE - arose. Her sister Madelyn, 7 at the time, exuded bravery in such a way that often times Darren and I followed her lead. After the 5th round of Chemotherapy, she began to face major side effects. Ella's Oncology team, along with Dr. Vyas and Dr. Nassiff, prepared us to enter a 15-hour surgery to remove her fibula and place it in her arm as a solution. As she conquered this amazing surgery with rehabilitation and spunk, our community never wavered in bravery. Surgeries followed but BraveBoyle fought, aggressively. She would learn to walk time and time again. No matter the good days or the bad, she was never treated as anything but a child."
"She would learn to walk time and time again. No matter the good days or the bad, she was never treated as anything but a child."
"The motto LONG LIVE CHILDHOOD couldn't be more perfect for our journey through CHOC. This is what leads us to the CHOC Walk. We watched our child walk five steps and crumble only to have a nurse kick back her soccer ball to play. We watched her lay in bed for two weeks, only to have a team of doctors have snowball fights with the kids in their Isolation gowns. We Walk for CHOC because everyone's child should feel like Ella did. We want to raise money, hope, awareness, and chances for any family facing an illness to have the opportunities and choices that CHOC has to offer. The BraveBoyle team believes that our daughter is walking, running and swinging today because of CHOC hospital and nothing will stop our community, our family, our survivor from supporting this 'home away from home' in any way we can.
As we enter our fourth year in walking the CHOC Walk, we have been honored to walk aside men, women, children, and doggies, who all face battles with hope and love. And with this walk we are unified because every walker matters, every walker has a story and we are honored to be a small part in making a difference. BraveBoyle looks forward to tying our laces, putting on our ears and walking aside everyone on August 11th!"
.png)
