He says Kenni was treated “like a champion” and met challenges with a smile. “She might not be happy at that moment, but a few minutes later … she would flip a switch and forget that she was hooked up to all these different machines – and she just wanted to play.”
Parents’ love, attention, and willingness to answer their child’s questions are important during treatment, says Sutton. “Children live from routine. While cancer is a huge disruption to everyone’s routine, it can be of great help during treatment to look for parts of their life that may be normal during treatment and then return to normal activities after therapy is over, “she says .
During their hospital stay with Kenni, Michael and Meagan Xydias also had to find a way to make the lives of their two sons as normal as possible. In return, they gratefully accepted help from family members and other people in their community.
“The boys continued to train in school and baseball, and family and friends came in and took them where they wanted, took them where they needed to be, fed them,” says Michael. “It was absolutely uplifting and supportive for us as a family to be able to get through this with all this love and support.”
Now that Kenni is done with her treatment and is cancer free, she and her family can look forward to the future. Sutton expects the little girl to do great things. “Your chance of staying free of germ cell tumors is around 95%,” she says.
Kenni will go to kindergarten again next year, says Michael. In the meantime, Sutton and the rest of her medical team will be closely monitoring Kenni’s health with exams, blood tests, and imaging scans. Once she’s old enough, it would be good for her to learn more about the disease she got through, Sutton says.
“When children are as young as Kenni to treatment, it’s important to keep them educated about their cancer and therapy throughout their lives so they can live their lives,” she says.
At the moment, the Xydias Kennis family is celebrating recovery. But they also keep in mind the things they have learned from their months of lovesickness. “It really showed us that we enjoy every little minute you get because you don’t know what’s next,” says Michael. “So just enjoy what you have in front of you. Be happy with it. “
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