A mother’s thank you letter to the pediatric nurses caring for her two-year-old daughter who is battling cancer has gone viral.
Shelby Skiles shared her moving words to express gratitude for the medical staff looking after Sophie, who had a tumor on her heart the size of a baseball.
The Facebook post has received more than 52,000 ‘likes’ and nearly 27,000 shares since it was posted earlier this month.
It is aimed at the nurses at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where the toddler has endured grueling chemotherapy treatment. She now needs a stem cell transplant to save her.
Sophie, two, was diagnosed with t-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer that occurs in the body’s lymphatic system.
She has been in the hospital since May when she first got her diagnoses, which has given Shelby time to witness all the work the nurses do in the pediatric ward.
Speaking to Daily Mail Online, Shelby said the little things the nurses did, such as bringing her family meals and washing Sophie’s pacifiers when they drop on the floor, inspired her to write the post.
And Susan McCollum, the clinical manager at Sophie’s hopsital, told Daily Mail Online that the post brought tears to her eyes because she knows how hard her staff works for their patients.
Shelby Skiles was devastated to find out her daughter’s cough wast-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer that occurs in the body’s lymphatic system. Left is her Facebook post that went viral and right is her with Sophie a couple days later
Shelby said the nurses at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, not only too care of her daughter, but the entire family. She has appreciated their support during this process
The two-year-old had grueling chemotherapy to stop the cancer. Her body at first didn’t respond to it, but an adult-form of chemotherapy helped her get into the remission stage
Shelby’s note said: ‘Dear Peds Nurses, (And incredible nurse techs!),
‘I see you. I sit on this couch all day long and, I see you. You try so hard to be unnoticed by me and my child. I see your face drop a little when she sees you and cries.
‘You try so many ways to ease her fears and win her over. I see you hesitate to stick her or pull bandaids (SIC) off. You say “No owies” and “I’m sorry” more times in one day than most people say ‘thank you.’
Shelby told Daily Mail Online that she started the note late one night.
She has taken time off work from her teaching job to be with Sophie while she recovers from chemotherapy, so this has allowed her to get to know the employees at the hospital.
‘It just struck me,’ Shelby said. ‘They’re here all day, every day to service the little people and their families.’
What inspired her to write the letter was how the nurses all care and look after her daughter during all hours of the day.
‘You can tell the second they walk in that they love these kids,’ Shelby said.
Some of the nurses have been with them since the beginning and have even brought the family meals during long days at the hospital.
These moments have helped the hospital stays to be more manageable while Sophie goes through her chemotherapy treatments.
You can tell the second they walk in that they love these kids
Shelby Skiles, mother
Shelby continued to praise the employees in the note who she says smile no matter how difficult their job becomes.
It said: ‘I see all of those rubber bracelets on your arms and wrapped around your stethoscope, each one for a child that you’ve cared for and loved.
‘I see you stroke her little bald head and tuck her covers around her tightly. I see you holding the crying mom that got bad news.
‘I see you trying to chart on the computer while holding the baby whose mom can’t-or won’t be at the hospital with her.’
The nurses behind the viral note
Susan McCollum is the clinical manager at the Pauline Allen Gill Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Sophie’s hospital in Dallas.
She first read the note on Facebook after one of the nurses on her staff re-posted it.
‘Stuff like that always brings tears to my eyes,’ Susan said. ‘I’m proud of my team and what we do.’
The family were devastated when the girl’s scan showed cancer after she was mistakenly diagnosed with asthma. The scan showed a large tumor in her chest
Sophie needs a stem cell transplant and is planning on receiving it through chord blood in the middle of November
She shared the note with her supervisors so they could understand how amazing her team was at the hospital.
”We don’t do it for the thank you, but it sure is nice when it happens,’ Susan said.
Shelby also highlighted scenes she’s witnessed from around the oncology floor, including cheering on poorly children taking victory laps, playing Nerf gun games with the patients and wiping their eyes over particularly hard case.
Susan explained that she and her staff appreciated people getting to hear about the stuff nurses do that aren’t always heard about.
‘This is how we impact families every day,’ Susan said. ‘That’s the stuff we don’t always see and hear about.
The devastating diagnosis
Shelby said her daughter started suffering a dry cough in March.
She took her daughter to hospital when it got worst, but tests and x-rays came back clear.
Sophie was diagnosed with asthma and scheduled for allergy testing.
But the little girl didn’t have asthma and on May 18 she stopped breathing. That’s when doctors discovered the huge mass in her chest.
‘We were scared,’ Shelby said. ‘They loaded us up into an ambulance and sent us to Dallas.’
Shelby, and Sophie’s father Jonathan have spent most of their time at the hospital. Shelby is a teacher, but is taking time off work to be with her daughter
The large mass in Sophie’s chest was t-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, which is cancer in the lymphatic system.
This system is a network of tissues and organs that help rid the body of toxins, waste and unwanted material.
The family were told her only chance at survival was aggressive chemotherapy.
Since then, Shelby, and father Jonathan have spent nearly all their time by their daughter’s side on the ward.
Sophie had to go through an adult version of chemotherapy because her body wasn’t responding to other treatments.
This version has a higher dosage and strength to attack the cells in the body in order treat the cancer.
Adult chemotherapy isn’t often used on children because of how damaging it can be to the body, and Sophie has experienced its negative effects.
Sophie’s chemotherapy treatment left her struggling to eat, walk, talk, and use her hands
The little girl is having therapy to make her stronger for the transplant
It was incredibly hard for the parents to watch as the chemo took its toll on little Sophie as she struggled to eat, walk, talk, and use her hands.
She has had to go through rehabilitation since because she is unable to feed herself or even hold items.
‘I tell people that she is about the equivalent of a four-month-year-old, Shelby said.
Hope for a transplant cure
On October 4, the Skiles family discovered that the treatment was helping and Sophie was in remission.
‘The horrible chemotherapy saved her life,’ Shelby said.
But the journey isn’t over for Sophie as she continues to fight for her life. Her body might be in remission but Shelby explained her tumors could come back at any point.
‘People hear remission and think it’s over,’ Shelby said. ‘But it’s not.’
Sophie’s next step is to get a stem cell transplant in the form of chord blood.
This will help provide her body with healthy cells to hopefully prevent the cancer from returning in the future.
‘This should hopefully save her life,’ Shelby said.
Sophie isn’t strong enough yet to receive the chord blood, but her mother said the doctors are planning to send her to Cook Children’s in Fort Worth, Texas in mid-November.
This is when they anticipate that Sophie will be strong enough to receive the transplant.
A GoFundMe page was set up on the family’s behalf to help cover the costs associated with Sophie’s medical care.
Her transplant has been rescheduled because she was too weak from the chemotherapy. She is set to travel to Fort Worth, Texas, in November to get the transplant