#RallyKid Noa's Fundraiser

Rally Kid Noa's Story

Our lives stopped on a dime on Sunday, July 7th, 2024. I went to wake Noa up after she slept in, which was very unusual for her. When I went into her room, I knew something was wrong. Noa wouldn’t wake up. She was essentially comatose, barely able to open her eyes. I called her doctors office and rushed her to the Children’s Urgent Care in Cumming. This didn’t make any sense, we were just at a birthday party the day before for her best friend, and she was perfectly fine. Her dad met me at Urgent Care and after a barrage of tests, the doctor came back into our room and said “You have two options. If you think you can handle it, drive straight to Scottish Rite, and there’s a team waiting for you in the ER. If not, there’s an ambulance outside waiting to take you. Your child is in critical condition. Her hemoglobin is 2.4. She needs immediate blood transfusions.” We rushed her to the ER, where when the doctor walked into our room she said “How long has your daughter had leukemia?” This was how we found out our perfect girl had cancer. Noa had never been sick a day in her 16 months of living. Not a cold, not a sniffle, not an anything. We, genuinely, thought her recent grumpiness (which had only started on Monday July 1st) was because of teething. Her diagnosis was confirmed this next day in the PICU at Scottish Rite. They told us the cancer had attacked her body so rapidly because she was so small. There was no way for us to catch it any sooner. Noa had surgery that Wednesday, July 10th, and immediately began chemotherapy. We were thrown into a world we never even dreamed of existing. But through it all, though the last 11 months have been the absolute hardest time of our lives, Noa continues to meet each obstacle with a grace and bravery that I’m not sure many adults could muster. As of today, she’s had 18 lumbar punctures, 4 bone marrow biopsies, thousands on thousands of pokes and prods and minutes of chemo. But she greets every day with a big smile and she cannot wait to see her friends at the AFLAC clinic. Noa is our superhero. She has not let cancer hold her back in any capacity. We still have another 15 months of treatment left before she can ring the bell, but we are so ready for our next adventure.

By buying a shirt, you are directly supporting childhood cancer research through the Rally Foundation. Every day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer—a heartbreaking statistic that drives our mission forward. Your purchase will contribute to the ongoing efforts to develop better treatments with fewer long-term side effects, and ultimately, find a cure. Stand with us in this critical cause and help bring hope to children and families battling cancer—so that one day, no child has to face this fight.