Hildebrand cousins
Update: Friday night after the fundraising was tallied, Hannah’s cousins were named “Dallas Students of the Year” in an online ceremony. Claire and Travis’ $125,116 will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help find a cure and ensure access to treatments for all blood cancer patients. The entire family jumped for joy, including Hannah in a green tutu. If you’d like to contribute, you may do so here.
Hannah Hildebrand’s blood cancer was discovered on Christmas Day in 2015. The toddler had been hospitalized with a croupy virus, and doctors ordered more tests when her fever persisted and she continued struggling to breathe. A pediatric oncologist performed a bone marrow aspiration Christmas morning and confirmed the diagnosis by that afternoon – acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Hannah’s cancer was aggressive, and she began two years of chemotherapy immediately. She lost all her hair, had to re-learn walking after meds made her weak, and spent almost a year in isolation due to her compromised immune system.
Spoiler alert: Today the feisty 7-year-old is cancer-free and owning first grade at Calvary Lutheran in Lake Highlands. She’s a blue-center belt in taekwondo progressing quickly toward her black belt, and she loves unicorns, tumbling and grilled cheese sandwiches. She delights at anything cyan-colored, is a talented artist and dances circles around parents Natalie and Chris and older brother Charlie. A budding advocate, Hannah is determined that “kids like her” should “just be able to be kids” and not be forced to worry about hospitals, chemo and cancer.
Her cousins agree.
Claire Pustejovsky and Travis Kelley are leading the “Cousins for a Cure” team fundraising for cancer research as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Students of the Year campaign. After Hannah was named an “Honored Hero” by the organization, all her cousins climbed onboard to help Claire and Travis reach their goal of $100,000. The campaign ends Friday.
“As parents, it was incredibly painful to watch our child endure such hardship,” says Natalie. “We felt completely helpless and could do very little to take Hannah’s pain away. We held, rocked, and sang to her, but at such a young age, she simply could not grasp why we allowed her to be poked, prodded and given medication that made her feel awful. We also had another child at home that needed our attention.”
Hannah’s cousins say their aim is a world without blood cancers. A lofty goal, maybe, but over the years support from donors has funded therapies and treatments that are now saving lives.
“They’re putting a lot of work into this, and I think their work is going to pay off because they are doing so much,” says Natalie.
If you’d like to support Hannah and her cousins, click on this link to make a donation. And have a grilled cheese sandwich in Hannah’s honor.
Chris, Charlie, Natalie and Hannah Hildebrand
Hannah had to re-learn walking after her lengthy treatment.
