Baby Steps was written as a resource for parents who have newly learned of a terminal illness diagnosis for their child. Many years ago, my wife and I found ourselves in this same challenging situation when our 16- month-old son Terrell was diagnosed with AML Leukemia. After healing from such a traumatic ordeal, we now believe that sharing our experience would be helpful to other parents. After much thought, we decided to write a resource/guide that would help families cope and manage through the first 10 of days after receiving their child’s diagnosis.
Although there are tons of resources about the disease and treatment plans, and what to expect during the illness, we never found a resource that could get us through those first couple of days. The North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset New York was absolutely excellent in providing all of the medical information, such as: symptoms, side effects, medication, treatment plans, hospital plans, life expectancy and etc.. They made sure we had plenty of medical information. There were other staffers that helped us greatly as well. For example, the social worker was so kind. She was the ear who listened to us during those critical moments! As great as all of that was, the combination of my wife and I still being considerably young (in our early 20’s) and not having had anyone in our families to encounter a terminal childhood illness, we still needed more.

We are now providing a resource that we wish we would have had during that time—a type of guide to handle the life-changing transition. So, my wife and I took the time to recall what it was like for us those first few weeks. Even though many days were a complete blur, between the two of us, we have taken the time to recall those first 10 days and are now ready to share this information with others.

My hope is that Baby Steps will be placed in the hands of the families who find themselves grappling with this unimaginable devastation. We are endeavoring to get the book placed in hospitals, doctors’ offices, Pediatric Oncology Clinics, treatment centers and anywhere that parents or children maybe receiving diagnosis. We believe that it will provide some direction for the coming days.

Please consider purchasing this resource, if not for you for someone else. You never know who you may meet that may need this resource.

Baby Steps will actually be released on Terrell’s birthday June 8th. We plan for it to be a release party like no other—one that celebrates his life and the hope and healing that we can offer to others. We hope to help as many families as possible.

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