Adalyn of South Saint Paul, Minnesota was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma on September 24, 2012, at mere 9 months old. “Never did we imagine that we would be told that she had a tumor in her retina and that it was cancer” parents Tim and Theresa recall.

Retinoblastoma typically shows up as a “white glow” in the eye, something that Tim and Theresa remember noticing in their pictures of Adalyn since she was 5-6 months old, but never knew it was a problem.

After consulting with their doctors Tim and Theresa were told to take Adalyn to the University of Minnesota’s Children’s Hospital, which besides Mayo was the only hospital in Minnesota that treated Retinoblastoma.

Adalyn received six rounds of chemo broken down into a six month treatment plan, staying two-three days each time.

Armed with her taggie blanket, soothie nuks, music and baby dolls, Adalyn has demonstrated enormous bravery in the face of chemo treatments and constant hospital visits. Although she hasn’t known life without doctors and hospitals it has never seemed to affect her. She smiles and laughs just as much now as during hospital visits and together with her family is just living life the best they can and taking it one day at a time.

Since completing her cancer treatment, Adalyn is now back at daycare and her family is slowly starting to understand their “new normal” and getting back into a routine. “Cancer is like a home invasion, once it has invaded your life you will never feel safe again” says Tim and Theresa.