Radiant Resilience: Lauren's Story

On Wednesday, February 21, Lauren went to school. When I asked her how her day went, she said that she might have fallen asleep during law class. I can’t say that she seemed very worried about it. Volleyball practice that evening completed the day.

Lauren was participating in the High School Work Experience Program and working at Higher Ground Landscaping. After some discussion with the oncology team, it was decided that this shouldn’t be continued. On Thursday, Mike and the rest of the crew organized a farewell barbecue.

Natasja’s milestone birthday was coming up on February 28 (hint: it isn’t forty), and we decided to do some pre-celebrating with our family in Parksville on the Island. On Friday, we took the ferry to Nanaimo and drove to Jeff & Lisa’s place to spend some time at the ocean.

On Saturday we had a nice breakfast and headed out for a hike at Englishman River Falls.

After the hike, which was more like a walk, we drove to Coombs for a visit to the Large Wooden Shoe Dutch store and Old Country Market. We returned to Parksville for lunch and afterwards the ladies went to get their nails done, while the men enjoyed some valuable pub time.

On Sunday we enjoyed some birthday cake, looked for shells on the beach and headed back home. All in all a great weekend spent with our loved ones.

The next week was pretty much all about the basketball provincial championship games at the Langley Event Centre. On Tuesday, Lauren attended the banquet, and from Wednesday to Saturday, the girls played basketball. Lauren was scheduled to go for bloodwork on Thursday, but when the staff at Children’s heard that she felt good enough to play basketball, they didn’t see the need for any tests. It’s moments like this that fill us with thankfulness.

Chemo is every two weeks, so today was another treatment day. Adelle drove out to Children’s, which was very much appreciated. Hanging out and putting Lego sets together made the day go by much faster. At this time, Lauren’s neutrophil levels are so low that it’s hard for her body to fight infections. She can still go to school, but it was recommended to limit attendance to essential courses only. Not great news, as Lauren actually wants to go to school. (no sarcasm this time)

These past two weeks went better than anticipated. Especially during the first week, Lauren felt quite well and had enough energy to participate in most activities. Towards the end of the second week, she started to tire quicker and took some long naps. Lauren hopes to travel to Kelowna with her volleyball team this coming weekend to play in a tournament. We pray that she feels well enough to do this since it’s been a while since she spent time with her teammates.

It’s a van Rhee tradition to take pictures on the first day back to school. I line up the kids at our front door for individual and group shots. Here are Lauren’s pictures from 2017, 2019, and 2022.