Father Dances With Toddler Daughter in Cancer Ward

Chris Jasurek
By Chris Jasurek
August 22, 2018US News
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Having cancer is tough, and having chemo is probably the toughest way to fight it. Having chemo for cancer when you are 2 years old is really a hard road to travel.

Two-year-old Phoenix was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of cancer called acute myeloid leukemia. Her marrow makes unhealthy blood cells, and far too few. Once she was diagnosed, doctors had to act fast.

Phoenix was slated for four weeks of chemotherapy, followed by another four rounds of chemo in a five-month period, according to her GoFund Me page.

Because the cancer spreads so quickly, Phoenix had to be given some really potent poisons to knock it out. Her treatment started on Aug. 4, and it can be pretty safely assumed little Phoenix won’t be too happy about anything until the end of the month.

Brett Thompson dances with his daughter Phoenix
Brett Thompson dances with his daughter Phoenix at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Aug. 16, 2018. (Screenshot/Christina Thompson via Storyful)

A Ballroom Dance for a Princess

Phoenix father Brett Thompson, her stepmother Christina Thompson, and her biological mother, Whitney, are sharing shifts at the hospital so that Phoenix never has to be alone as she suffers. After a week of watching his daughter endure the harsh treatment, her father, concocted a little diversion to try to cheer up his unhappy child.

Aug. 16, the final day of the first round of chemo, brought a surprise: a nurse delivered a fancy dress to Phoenix’s room, saying a “volunteer” had left it.

The “volunteer” had left a princess’s outfit, which Phoenix swiftly donned. Properly outfitted for a royal ball, Phoenix was then greeted by a tall, dapper man in a suit: her father, dressed formal wear, had stopped by for a surprise visit.

He lifted his daughter up off her sickbed and waltzed her around the room to the strains of country star Tim McGraw’s “My Little Girl.”

It was, of course, Brett Thompson who had “volunteered” the princess costume. He wanted to find some way to make his daughter know how special she was to her parents, and to giver her something to take her mind off her illness if only for a while.

On the Phoenix’s Fight Facebook page, Christina Thompson posted, “I mean honestly I don’t think I could have picked a better man for my kids. At 2 years old this is hard on her on her family and the people that love her.

“These little moments make these times not so hard. Brett thank you for being just what our children need. Did I mention she really loves her daddy.”

A Child Acquired Through Love and Generosity

Phoenix has no biological connection to either of the Thompsons.

Brett Thompson and his wife Christina obtained legal guardianship of Phoenix when she was just 7 weeks old.

Phoenix’s biological mother, Whitney ,had been friends with Christina, but while Christina had found a husband and made a family, Whitney went down a different path.

When Christina found out two and a half years ago that Whitney was a drug user and pregnant, she and her husband decided that, even though they had four children of their own, they needed to help this one more.

“Two and a half years ago my friend came back into my life,” Christina explained to 11Alive. “She was an active drug user and her daughter fell into our hands.”

Whitney is in recovery, getting herself off of drugs. She remains as much a part of her biological daughter’s life as she can.

“We are one big support system,” Christina told 11Alive.

A Long, Hard Road Yet to Travel

Phoenix is no doubt pleased to be done with her first round of chemotherapy—but she still faces four more courses through the next five months.

The strains on her are severe. The strains on her whole family are.

Friends and family have created a GoFundMe page plus the Facebook page Phoenix’s Fight. They have schedule fundraising events to try to help meet to expenses of this so painful, so necessary, and so expensive course of treatment.

Bret and Christina need all the support they can get.

Along with Christina, the Thompsons have four other children, ages 1 through 11, plus Phoenix. Brett has been forced to take a leave from his job to care for the children and his wife during these trying times.

Christina spends as much time as she can at the hospital. “It’s extremely hard to be away from my other children,” Christina said. “These times will get difficult but I know we will make it through.”

The next fundraising event will be held a silent auction held at the Barrow County Veterans Resource Center, on Sunday, Sept. 9 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Phoenix’s GoFundMe page closes by saying that the Thompsons are staying strong in their faith that the Lord will give Phoenix the strength to fight. The family and friends ask everyone to keep Phoenix in their prayers “during this time and for what is to come.”

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