Gracelyn Lee’s vibrant, fun-loving personality lights up a room. This Fayetteville first-grader almost always has a bright, beaming smile on her face. She loves a good dance party, showing cows and talking about her many animals.
The young farmer wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up and, at 8 years old, she is already a veteran cattle showman. Gracelyn showed her first two heifers, Bertha and Jeanette, when she was just 5.
“It’s something she enjoys doing,” Lauren says. “It’s pretty amazing to see this little girl who weighs 55 pounds taking charge and pulling around these thousand-pound cows.”
Lauren and her husband TJ would see their little girl’s confidence transfer from livestock shows to the health care arena after receiving devastating news two years ago. Lauren noticed Gracelyn’s abdomen was enlarged, so she and TJ scheduled a doctor’s appointment.
On a November morning in 2022, TJ took Gracelyn to their pediatric clinic while Lauren, a kindergarten teacher, went on to work. Gracelyn underwent an exam, and clinic staff told TJ they’d call with the results, so he took Gracelyn back to school.
It wasn’t long before Lauren and TJ got phone calls from the clinic that turned their world upside down.
The next several hours were a whirlwind for the family as they took in the news their 6-year-old daughter likely had Wilms tumor, a kidney cancer that mainly affects children.
The clinic recommended Lauren and TJ take Gracelyn to Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) immediately.
“I was scared,” Lauren says. “I grabbed Gracelyn and told her we needed to go. She said, ‘Mom, I just got back to school. Why are we leaving?’ I was trying not to scare her.”
“And I was trying to remain calm and to calm Lauren down,” TJ adds.
After additional testing at ACNW confirmed the diagnosis, the family was on the road the same day to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Four days later, Gracelyn underwent surgery for five and a half hours to remove her left kidney, which contained the cancerous, football-sized tumor, and to have a port placed through which she would receive chemotherapy.
She spent five days at ACH recovering before returning home to northwest Arkansas. Two weeks later, Gracelyn began chemotherapy at ACNW.
Gracelyn endured seven months of treatment to remove the cancerous spots found on her lungs. Lauren and TJ are profoundly grateful for Gracelyn’s resilience and the support of their care team.
Gracelyn has been cancer free since August 2023 and sees her ACNW oncology team regularly for follow-up care. She’s still smiling, dancing, cheering on the Razorbacks and taking care of her animals.
Arkansas Children’s served more than 180,000 children like Gracelyn last year — more children than ever before. With your support, Arkansas Children’s historic $318 million expansion will increase access to pediatric care, enhance exceptional outcomes for kids and improve patient experience on both hospital campuses.
To learn more about the expansion, click here. To support Arkansas Children’s growth, click here or call 800.880.7491 today.