I'll be completely honest, I thought this post was going to be different. Brielle alone has the faith for God to take it all away. I truly believed that today, July 4th, she would get to celebrate the freedom from cancer.

Scan results are in, and though are expectations are always high, we have realized that this process is like chipping away at a stone. There is a very small decrease in disease, that's good right?! Yes, we are headed in the right direction! Are we focusing on the positive, of course!

Now let me tell you about relapsed cancer and chemotherapy. Chemo is so toxic that it will eventually start to shut down your organs, so if the cancer isn't gone by the time your kidneys and liver can't handle it anymore, you've run out of options.

The relapse protocol that Brielle is on right now is very new.

They aren't sure exactly how many rounds they can do, but when you approach rounds 13-17, they start to get nervous, not wanting to give too many.

So let's say that we decrease by 1 curie score (the numerical evaluation for how much cancer is in your body) every 3 rounds. We are now starting round 7, she is currently at a curie score of 10. Hypothetically, she would need 30 more rounds to be considered cancer free. We don't have that many, we have to chip away larger pieces at a time.

Even though we are so grateful, our desire for Brielle to be free feels so heavy. As a parent, watching your child in pain every admission, holding her as she cries, because she wants her hair back, listening to her pray for her cancer to be gone; it's hard to answer the question of why bad things happen to good people. Brielle is everything good in this world; her ability to befriend everyone, light up a room with her smile, and inspire others with her faith is admirable.