Brave. Happy. Resilient. Tough. These are words often used to describe patients at MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network. These words are also a perfect match for brothers Mi’Kai and Mi’Kah, according to their mom Seantaila.
Two diagnoses, one medical home
Both brothers were introduced to their care teams at Mary Bridge Children’s via ambulance rides. At barely six months old, Mi’Kah began receiving care for life-threatening asthma attacks. Mi’Kai became a Mary Bridge Children’s patient due to a leukemia diagnosis.
“When I first met Mi’Kai, he was in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU),” Mary Bridge Children’s social worker Valaree Schelhammer says. “He had multisystem organ failure, was intubated and on oxygen. I remember that his mom prayed for him every day. She drew pictures for him which she posted in his hospital room. She talked to him a lot, although he couldn’t respond. She had a lot of faith that he would wake up and that all the prayers and positive energy she surrounded him with would help. She was right.”
After making a miraculous recovery, Mi’Kai began cancer treatment and will likely need continued treatment and maintenance chemotherapy until he’s 8. Both boys see the hospital as a safe space despite what they’ve been through and particularly love the welcome distraction of playing with their child life specialist services and the video games they bring in.
“Mary Bridge Children’s makes us feel like we were part of a family — they know us when we walk into the cafeteria, they know my sons when they walk into their room,” Seantaila says. “It’s nice and it’s important to be known, especially when something traumatic like this happens.”
Support during a serious illness
When meeting the demands of cancer treatment — including hospital stays, chemotherapy appointments, surgeries and more — a cancer diagnosis can impact a family emotionally, physically and financially.
The Helping Hands fund was created by the Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation to ensure that the basic needs of children and their families are met throughout treatment. The fund helps with things like prescription co-pays, transportation and medical equipment. Over the course of Mi’Kai’s three-year-long cancer journey, the fund has helped with things like moving fees, utilities and even purchased a mini fridge when the family’s refrigerator broke.
“It’s important to have funds like Helping Hands to help families like Seantaila’s because no one knows or can predict when a life-changing diagnosis can happen,” Valaree says. “There are so many costs associated with long admissions like Mi’Kai’s including gas and food. While parents are at bedside hoping and praying that their children recover, they cannot work, and bills keep coming. I truly believe that the assistance Seantaila received from helping hands put her in the position she is in today to have her own car and to get a job to provide for her family.”
According to Seantaila, this empowered the family to focus on the health of both boys.
“Having this support meant one less thing I had to worry about,” Seantaila says. “As a family, when something like this happens, we just have to figure it out. It was nice to have someone to turn to.”
Mi’Kai and Mi’Kah with their mom, Seantaila.
On the road to healing
Although working through health issues like severe asthma and cancer is tough at any age, both Mi’Kai and Mi’Kah have a special gift of taking everything in stride and keeping smiles on their faces.
“I’m proud of both of my boys, their resilience and their joy,” Seantaila says. “Especially Mi’Kai — he’s so happy despite what he’s been through. He couldn’t walk for three months, he had to relearn how to talk. He must explain the tube in his stomach to children and adults who approach him and he answers happily and with so much knowledge. I’m proud of both Mi’Kah and Mi’Kai for speaking up for themselves and still loving life.”
