Week 7 Scores
October 18, 2016
Swamp People star facing charges in Terrebonne
October 19, 2016
This week, Macy Gueldner is meeting some of her most familiar friends for the first time.
Macy, a six-year-old from Houma, is in Disney World with her parents, Mary Catherine and Jeremy Gueldner, and her older sister, Kate. Macy is in the land of castles and dreams, finally getting face time with Disney Junior characters such as her favorites Minnie Mouse and Doc McStuffins.
The Gueldners arrived in Florida for the trip on Saturday and are heading back to Houma on Friday. They met both pairs of Macy’s grandparents as well as Jeremy’s brother at Disney, making it a giant family party. The trip includes three days at Disney World, two more at Universal Studios and then a final day at SeaWorld. Mary Catherine said the family has not done much planning for the trip, preferring to play it by ear each day. Mary Catherine said she’s most excited to see her daughter’s first encounter with Minnie.
“She still is in the make believe stage. When she sees Minnie Mouse, she really believes it’s Minnie Mouse. And I’m excited to see her reactions when she sees Minnie Mouse and all her friends,” Mary Catherine said.
The trip to “The Happiest Place on Earth” is a far cry from where the Gueldners have been for the past three years. When Macy was three years old, doctors diagnosed her with leukemia. The next day, the Gueldners traveled from Baton Rouge to Memphis, Tenn., to begin receiving treatment from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The family spent the next couple of months traveling between their home in Franklinton and St. Jude for treatment. The Gueldners were living what was essentially dorm life, according to Mary Catherine.
“We lived in a little room with two little beds in it. That was a big adjustment. But, we made it. We did it. You just kind of do what you have to do,” Mary Catherine said.
However uncomfortable the sleeping arrangements were, they could hold no candle to the emotional and physical toll the leukemia took on both Macy and the entire family. Because leukemia has a strong chance of returning after remission, children must receive chemotherapy for a long time. Macy was taking chemo for two years and eight months, finally finishing her treatment in May. The side effects from the chemo were brutal, with Macy constantly having her mouth full of sores and also suffering from nerve pain in her legs and feet. The pain was so intense Macy would sometimes not be able to walk.
Mary Catherine said since chemo has ended, most of the side effects have gone away. Macy, who also has Down’s Syndrome, will not communicate her pain if she’s only hurting a little bit, according to Mary Catherine, who referred to her daughter as a “warrior.”
“She does communicate with us, but she has a very high pain tolerance. Big time,” Mary Catherine said. “So it’s possible that she’s got some lingering nerve pain in her legs and feet; that would probably be the biggest long term effect. But she doesn’t really complain about it. She doesn’t complain unless things are really bad.”
The Make-A-Wish Foundation agreed to pay for the Gueldners’ trip to Disney World in light of Macy’s battle. The family heeded Macy’s doctor’s advice to wait until her chemo treatment ended before going on the trip to further avoid any complications. According to Mary Catherine, Kate, who missed four months of first grade as the family traveled to Memphis and back and had to confront the mortality of her baby sister, has not been left out of Make-A-Wish’s planning for the trip.
“This trip is for [Kate], too. Make-A-Wish really involved her and makes it about her as well. They’ve never left her out, which is pretty awesome,” Mary Catherine said.
While the Gueldners’ trip this week celebrates the culmination of Macy’s fight, another Houma family heads do Disney World next month as a reprieve from their ongoing battle. Annabelle Thomas is going to Disney World with her parents, Doug and Victoria Ordoyne Thomas, and her younger brother. She’ll get to see all the Disney princesses she adores, including Elsa from “Frozen” and Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog.” They, too, are making the trip through the Make-A-Wish foundation in light of Annabelle’s own leukemia diagnosis.
Annabelle, who just turned five this month, was diagnosed with leukemia in Nov. 2015. She was in remission 30 days after the diagnosis, but still has chemo for years. According to Victoria, Annabelle went through intense chemo for eight months, which had inpatient visits and sometimes daily chemo. She began maintenance treatment in August, which consists of oral chemo, steroids, and monthly trips to Oschner for more invasive procedures. Victoria said the maintenance treatment is slated to last 18 months until March 2018.
While Annabelle has been in remission and chemotherapy is no small challenge for anyone, let alone a child, Victoria said the social limitations may have been the hardest part for her so far. She described her daughter as a “social butterfly,” so not being able to go to school or dance classes and see her friends was dispiriting for Annabelle. While the hospital visits carried the specter of more physically demanding therapy, they also provided an outlet for Annabelle, according to Victoria.
“Her hospital visits and her clinic visits were actually fun for her, because it was going out and doing something and being around people. And she would actually be in the hospital dressed in her Elsa dresses running around the hospitals,” Victoria said.
Victoria said her family chose early November for the trip so it would be a bit cooler and have smaller crowds. The family already has a few events at Disney lined up, including a character dinner where the family can share a meal with a Disney princess. Victoria said she is also trying to get tickets to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, although those would be on her own dime. Aside from the days at Disney and Universal, Victoria said the family will also spend its last full day in Legoland, a theme park based on the popular block-building toys.
Both the Gueldners and the Thomases have been able to find some kind of normal in the wake of their struggles. Mary Catherine and Jeremy have set roots in Houma while working on the faculty at Vandebilt Catholic High School. According to Mary Catherine, Macy is back at school at Mulberry and “loving it,” while her immune system is close to a typical person’s now. Mary Catherine said she still sometimes feels she forgot to give Macy her daily medicine, forgetting her daughter is no longer in treatment.
“It was such a long treatment, so it was our life for a really long time. Being off treatment is awesome, but we had to get adjusted to that. But we have, and life has been treating us pretty good since,” Mary Catherine said.
Victoria said Annabelle has been able to start up school this year for the first time since her diagnosis, reuniting her with her friends. According to Victoria, while the road ahead is still long and challenging, Annabelle’s positive outlook and the upcoming trip will help keep things upbeat in her household.
“We’re just looking forward to having a vacation and having some normalcy and letting her be able to experience this. Because she’s had a rough year and she definitely deserves it,” Victoria said.
