About
Discover the Story Behind See the Magic
In the fall of 2019, Hanna was diagnosed with secondary leukemia after already battling ovarian cancer in 2017. Her treatment took her to the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center located in Houston, Texas. There, her family learned that she would require multiple extended stays in the hospital and would undergo an extensive 35-day inpatient stay for a stem cell transplant.
During her stay, her parents brought in their own Apple TV device into the hospital so Hanna and her family would have access to Disney+ to help pass the hours she would spend in a hospital room. They quickly learned that Disney+ is not just a streaming service. Accessing the Disney content allowed them to remember their lives and reminisce about memorable family experiences.
Disney+ provided them with entertainment and it served as a great distraction from the treatment challenges. It also spurred great conversation about memories and shows that held special meaning from the past, their favorite parts, favorite characters and family experiences.
Hanna’s Story
Lori and I have two daughters. Our oldest, Hanna, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2017. At the time, she was a student at Auburn University. She wanted to stay enrolled at Auburn during the process, so she chose to get treatment at UAB’s Women and Infants Center. She completed three 5-day cycles of Chemotherapy over three months. She was able to remain in school, thanks to great cooperation from the university and great support from her friends. She worked hard and had a 4.0 that semester. I cannot properly describe the emotions of watching your 22-year-old daughter do homework in a chemo chair, but oddly, the mix of emotions is more positive than one would expect.
She graduated from Auburn in December of 2018 and was both teaching at a private school and working for East Alabama Medical Center, utilizing her degree in Exercise Science to help recondition recuperating patients. In January of 2019, she was given a clean bill of health from her oncologist, no presence of the disease or signs of potential re-occurrence. In July they moved her to checkups every 6 months.
In September of that same year, she had what appeared to be a minor illness, which turned in to pneumonia. The test showed the root cause was a failure of her immune system, which they quickly diagnosed as AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). Hanna, Lori, and I discussed the treatment options and the decision was made to transport her to MD Anderson Cancer Center for treatment.
She proceeded to go through an aggressive treatment protocol to eliminate the disease, which resulted in full remission. After reaching remission, the doctors at MDA performed a stem cell transplant. The transplant involves a 100+ day process beginning with 35+ days inpatient. The challenges include multiple days of chemo infusions, significant isolation, and dealing with significant side effects of the treatment itself.
Through day 68 of the process, everything was progressing positively, and the transplant was fully engrafted with the donor cells’ 100% makeup of her bone marrow, which was the goal. She was feeling more normal, getting out to museums in Houston, and taking long walks in the park any time the weather allowed.
We received terrible news on day 68 when the doctors discovered she had relapsed. The doctors were never able to get control of the leukemia post relapse and Hanna passed away on June 26th. Leukemia research has significantly improved treatment protocols but not to a point to be able to address the aggressive nature of her leukemia along with the complications of a relapse inside the 100-day recovery timeline of the stem cell transplant.
During the process, Lori, Hanna, and I temporarily moved to Houston. Though I have traveled some during the first 3 months, Lori did not go home from September 15, 2019 to June 23, 2020.
I tell you this story because we were blessed to have access to a great cancer medical facility and the best medical professionals in the world at MD Anderson. We are further blessed that Hanna exhibited an indescribable ability to manage the challenges both mentally and physically. Through both medical challenges, Hanna and the family discussed how we might give back or help those in similar situations.
During her stay, I Brough our Apple TV into the hospital so we would have access to Disney+.
Disney+ was a great distraction from the treatment challenges, providing entertainment, but also spurring conversation about what we remembered from particular shows, our favorite parts, and the stories that surround them. We spent the better part of one afternoon watching nothing but “shorts” as a family. (This is a good time to interject that at one point, when Hanna was very young, she could sing the full song “I want to be like you,” from The Jungle Book.)
From this experience, we decided that Disney+ needs to be in every room of the MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital and eventually in every pediatric cancer facility in the U.S. to help crate family moments for families that need it the most. Hanna had planned that this would be a significant initiative for her, post recovery. We are heartbroken that she is not here to physically support this project, but her memory and her passion for this project will drive us to support the children and the families that have the misfortune of dealing with these difficult circumstances.
Thank you for supporting our cause,
Jon, Lori & Maria