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homerhorizon.com news
the Homer Horizon | November 1, 2018 | 7
Homer girl remains ‘so strong and brave’ during battle with cancer
GoFundMe donation
page created to
aid with ongoing
medical bills
Jacquelyn Schlabach
Assistant Editor
Over the last couple of
months, 7-year-old Hailee
Saenger has been fighting
for her life. The Homer Glen
girl was diagnosed with
Stage 2 diffuse large B-cell
non-Hodgkin lymphoma on
Sept. 6, just two days before
her birthday.
Throughout the summer,
Hailee had experienced
stomach aches on and off,
but her parents kept thinking
it was probably just
something she ate. At the
end of August, the stomach
aches had only progressed
and her parents, Cindee and
Bill, knew something wasn’t
right. The signs were pointing
to an appendicitis, so
they brought Hailee to an
urgent care center, which
agreed the symptoms mirrored
that of an appendicitis,
and she was rushed to the
emergency room.
After numerous tests, doctors
said Hailee had a diverticulum
that needed to be removed
immediately. Surgery
was scheduled that same day
on Sept. 1.
After five days in the hospital,
Hailee came home.
Cindee received a phone
call from the doctor who
had learned from pathology
reports that the suspected
diverticulum in Hailee was
actually a malignant tumor.
“My reaction was pure
shock, and I instantly just
started shaking and crying,”
Cindee said. “My husband
ran up because he knew
something wasn’t right, and
he was like, ‘What’s wrong?’
And I was just holding up
my finger like hold on, and
the doctor was like, ‘I’m really
sorry that we have to tell
you this over the phone, but
we wanted to get you in as
soon as possible, and I don’t
want you to be wondering
all night what we’re talking
about, but it is a malignant
tumor.’”
As soon as Cindee heard
the word malignant, her mind
went right to cancer.
“It was devastating,” Cindee
said. “It’s nothing as a
parent that you ever want to
hear that one of your children
has.”
Shortly following Hailee’s
diagnosis, one of her aunts
set up a GoFundMe page to
help assist the family with all
of their medical bills during
Hailee’s battle with cancer.
As of press time, $8,415 was
raised of a $20,000 goal by
102 people over the course of
25 days.
“I am seriously amazed
by people and their kindness
and their generosity,” Cindee
said.
Her neighbor, Tracy Szafran,
set up a meal delivery
plan through www.mealtrain.
com, where neighbors, family
and friends bring dinner
to the Saengers three times a
week.
“I was just telling Tracy,
she set up this food train for
us, I mean I have neighbors
that I’ve never even met
before bringing us meals
because I don’t have time
to cook,” Cindee said. “It’s
overwhelming, it really is.
It’s amazing. I feel very supported
by community and
friends and people I didn’t
even know. It’s amazing.”
The Saengers are like family
to Tracy and her husband,
Mick, and said that Hailee’s
diagnosis has had a big impact
on them, as well.
“It’s horrible,” Tracy said.
“I cry every time I think of
them, think of her. Having
kids myself, it’s not an easy
battle.”
Cindee and Bill went to
the hospital the next day after
learning that the tumor
Homer Glen resident 7-year-old Hailee Saenger is battling
Stage 2 diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A
GoFundMe donation page is set up for her and her family to
pay for medical bills. Photo submitted
was malignant and sat down
with Hailee and her doctors
to explain to her that
she had some sick cells in
her stomach. Hailee asked
her mother what cancer was,
having heard of it previously
because of her grandfather’s
diagnosis of multiple
myeloma.
“And she just kind of like
asked her dad on the side,
‘Am I going to die?’ And he
was like, ‘Oh my God, no.’ I
think she didn’t really understand
it, but she heard about
it, so she was just asking
questions.”
The plan of execution was
to go through all of the options
to see how to treat the
cancer. Hailee underwent
more testing, had bone marrow
biopsies, spinal taps,
blood work, a CAT scan
and CT scan. A PICC line
was also surgically inserted
into Hailee’s arm, which is a
catheter that carries blood to
the heart and is used to draw
blood.
“She’s been such a trooper,
just amazing,” Cindee said.
“She’s an amazing little girl,
so strong and brave. I’m just
so proud to be her mom;
she’s just amazing.”
Hailee had her first round
of chemotherapy Sept. 17
through Sept. 21 and her
second round Oct. 8 though
Oct. 12. Cindee stays with
her daughter at the hospital
as she undergoes chemo for
those five days.
“She got really sick, and
she needed to get a blood
transfusion the first time because
she was so weak, and
her body just wasn’t making
enough blood, Cindee said.
“And then this time, it was
just a really bad infection she
got. Right now, she’s on antibiotics
because the infection
was so bad in her belly, and
it was so inflamed that she
couldn’t eat solid foods until
yesterday.”
Following the first round
of chemo, Hailee’s hair began
to fall out. Cindee had cut her
hair to shoulder length but
couldn’t get herself to shave
the rest of Hailee’s hair, so
she called Tracy.
“She’s like, ‘Tracy, I can’t
bring myself to cutting her
hair,’ she’s like, ‘I can’t do
it,’ so I said, ‘OK. I’m on my
way home,’” Tracy said.
Tracy came over to the
Saengers home with her
daughter and her daughter’s
friend. Cindee asked Tracy to
shave Hailee’s head for her,
as she held her daughter’s
hand.
“We did a little dance party
beforehand, and she was still
all smiles and giggles, and
then we sat down and I had
shaved her head,” Tracy said.
“The girls were there, they
cried, her mom cried, I cried,
then her dad came down the
stairs, he cried. It was moving,
to say the least.”
In support of Hailee, her
father and Tracy’s husband
both shaved their heads right
afterward.
“They did it to show her
like, ‘Hey, we can be bald,
too,’” Cindee said. “They actually
let her hold the shaver,
and she went on their head
and I had pictures and video
of her just doing it. She’s
laughing, so it started off
emotional, and she was sad
and we were all crying, and
then we ended up laughing
because it’s nice to see support,
for sure.”
In the coming weeks,
Hailee will go to the hospital
once a week for testing on
her blood cell count. At the
end of November, she will go
in again for a scan so doctors
can see if more chemotherapy
is necessary, or if she is
cancer-free.
“[Doctors are] hopeful,
and they said that it’s very
highly treatable, that it’s curable,
that sometimes it’s just
depending on the person and
how quickly they catch it,
how much chemo they have
to do,” Cindee said. “But
they’re very optimistic and
hopeful that Hailee will make
a full recovery and hopefully
go back to just being a normal
little girl again, so that’s
our hope.”
Hailee hasn’t been able to
go back to school or enjoy
the activities she once did,
including cheerleading, gymnastics
and dance.
“It makes her sad,” Cindee
said. “I know she’s made
comments that she’s really
sad about the fact that she
lost her hair and she’s very
sad about the fact that she
can’t be going to school and
doing things. She wants to be
in dance, and she wants to be
doing stuff, but she’s very understanding.”
Cindee always reminds
her daughter that the cancer
won’t last forever, and
she’ll be back to normal soon
enough.
“She tells me, ‘Mom, don’t
cry.’ She’s amazing,” Cindee
said. “She’s so strong. She’s
brave, I mean, so brave.
There’s so all these tests and
pokes and terrible things that
a little girl shouldn’t have to
go through, she went through,
and she’s just amazing. She’s
so positive. She’s already
told me like, ‘Mom, I’m going
to be fine, my cancer’s
gone already, I just know it,’
just stuff like that. She’s optimistic
and just amazing.”
To donate to Hailee’s Go
FundMe page, visit www.go
fundme.com/helping-Haileeheal.