After Fracturing Her Back Playing Softball And Suffering From Strange Symptoms, This 16-Year-Old Was Diagnosed With Stage 4 Lymphoma Because Her Mom Kept Pushing For Answers
Charlotte, North Carolina. 16-year-old Peyton Wyatt fractured her back while playing softball last October.
She suffered terrible back pain, but then things escalated. Peyton lost 25 pounds in just 4 months.
She started having chills and hot flashes. She stopped eating. Doctors told Peyton’s mom Gretchen that she most likely had an eating disorder and anemia, but this mom and daughter were convinced that wasn’t right.
Something was seriously wrong, but it wasn’t what medical professionals were suggesting. As time went on, Peyton developed more symptoms.
Now, she was feeling like she had gotten hit by a truck. She was experiencing shortness of breath and she was sleeping for hours upon hours at a time.
Gretchen decided to take Peyton to a local ER, where Peyton had multiple tests done.
After getting a CT scan, X-rays, and having tests run to check her thyroid and see if she had diabetes or leukemia, the results came back.
Doctors told Gretchen Peyton was just anemic. Again, things were not adding up, so Gretchen took Peyton to their pediatrician.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Peyton with her mom Gretchen
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The pediatrician ran their own set of tests, reaching the conclusion that Peyton had anemia. At this point, Gretchen spoke up and asked for Peyton to be sent to see a blood specialist.
Peyton was referred to the Levine Children’s Hospital to see the specialist. They were no closer to having answers after seeing the specialist, who only pointed out a blood clotting disorder as something new.
Peyton was continuing to lose weight, but more alarming symptoms popped up. Her skin was starting to look yellow, and her lips were beginning to turn a purple color. She was getting severe fevers and she was starting to look like she was falling apart to Gretchen.
Gretchen wasn’t going to stop even though doctors were not giving her answers that made any sense. Gretchen took Peyton back to the doctor to get even more tests done. She also took her to the ER. Still, nobody could do anything for Peyton.
Then, the results from the CT scan and X-rays came back, and they told an entirely different story.
Peyton clearly had cancer, and it was spreading throughout her bones and her body.
GoFundMe; pictured above Peyton and Gretchen smile in a Christmas photo
Her new diagnosis was Advanced Hodgkins Lymphoma stage 4B, meaning her lymphoma already advanced to a point where she requires very aggressive treatment.
Finally, Peyton was properly diagnosed after Gretchen didn’t give up.
Peyton will have to spend the next 6 months receiving radiation and chemotherapy, and she might need blood transfusions.
“Guys, I’m delirious right now, but I recognize and appreciate your generosity and I want to thank each one of you separately,” Gretchen wrote in an update on GoFundMe.
“I see you and I hear you and I love you all!!! I feel like I am in the movie, “Horton Hears A Who!” It takes a village!!!”
If you would like to donate to help cover Peyton’s medical expenses, you can do so here.
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