Violet Brielle Spataro

When our friends at Make-A-Wish asked if Violet would like to make her good friend Juni a send off video for her upcoming wish trip to Disneyland, Violet excitedly responded, "Yes! I want to make a video for Juni! Can we do it right now?"  It was so so sweet. We dressed Violet up in her favorite Cinderella dress and tiara that she received on her own wish trip to Disneyland a few months before. These were part of her special princess make-over on her 3rd birthday at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. Violet was giggly and twirling, ready to tell her friend all about the magic she was going to experience.   The result of Violet's pure joy when thinking of her time in Disneyland and the love she has for her friend is this very sweet video below. As thousands have now said, you may want to grab your tissues! For mobile users click HERE . When I was first able to view the finished video through Make-A-Wish, I cried. I imagined Juni and her family seeing it f...

Please head over to our friends at MousekaTools to read our guest blog post on Violet's special Make-A-Wish trip!  <3 If you haven't seen Make-A-Wish's short video of Violet's wish trip to Disneyland, you can watch it HERE . :)

I knew it was coming, but how I felt at the moment it actually happened let me know that I was completely emotionally unprepared for it. I really don't see how a parent could ever be ready to answer something like this. Violet asked me last night, "Mom, why do I have to keep getting my eyes checked?" That is what we call it when we talk to her about her EUAs. We refer to them as simply 'getting her eyes checked'. Violet knows that she had cancer. She understands that she was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma when she was a baby and that she went through chemotherapy to rid her eye of cancer. She knows all too much for such a sweet little innocent girl. Violet has asked about her EUAs many times before, but this time was different. She went on to ask me what the reason was behind having these done all the time. If she was ok and didn't have cancer anymore, than why did she have to keep going through these? I gave her the simplest answer I could and it was...

Wow, Violet's 16th EUA.  That is a lot of under anesthesia procedures for such a little peanut who has just turned 3 years old. And, EUAs are only 1 of the things she has had  to go under anesthesia for. Violet's wish trip to Disneyland was the most amazing and joyous experience. But now, after just a few days back, we have had to snap right into the reality of the hospital again. Still, we are so grateful for the wonderful break we had. It was such a blessed time that we will never forget. ♥ Violet always amazes me with her strength and her resilience. It can't be easy for a child to go from being on cloud 9 at the Happiest Place on Earth and then quickly back into the hospital. It just shouldn't be, but this is her path, and she walks it so gracefully. As her parents, we pray each day that we can also walk it with such grace. It's not easy to do. Violet did tell us that she didn't want to do this today while we were in pre-op. Usually, the concern doesn...

The journey with Violet's left eye has been a lot of back and forth with feeling victorious, then more unknowns and a lot of uncertainty. At the very beginning of Violet's diagnosis with Retinoblastoma, after the specialist had carefully assessed the condition of her left eye, the size of the tumor and the proximity to the optic nerve, we were faced with the decision of fighting to save Violet's eye or removing it completely. Violet's first diagnosis was Unilateral Retinoblastoma, meaning it was found in only one eye. However, Violet was so young at just 7 months old, and so, there was a significant chance that her diagnosis would change to Bi-Lateral Retinoblastoma after time showed us more. With Bi-Lateral Retinoblastoma, there are many more risks.  Tumors could begin to pop up in her non-affected eye in the future and if we removed Violet's left eye she could have the chance of losing both.  We prayed over the  decision and then we took it to heart when the s...

Violet has her next EUA this Wednesday, September 25th. We are awaiting details of our check-in time and hoping that it is an early one. They will also be performing an ERG while Violet is under anesthesia. This will be the very first time they have done this and we are praying for a miracle in her vision! We are so grateful for everyone that has been kindly following Violet's story and supporting us along the way. We will always continue to share here, but we would also like to invite you to Violet's official Facebook page that has been made public. We would love to have you all join us for more frequent updates, photos, information and prayer.  Here:  Violet Brielle - Surviving Retinoblastoma   Please feel free to share Violet's page as well! Thank you all so much for your prayers & love. 

Violet has her next EUA this Wednesday the 19th. We just found out that she has an afternoon check-in which is never fun because she is not able to eat at all before the procedure. Please keep her in your prayers for another perfect exam with no recurrence, for safety during this procedure and for this to be as easy on her as possible. Thank you so much!

This is the face that I fight for. A fire has been lit within my heart in recent months to connect with other families going through the battle of childhood cancer. I offer whatever I can ... Prayers, encouragement, information, Violet's survival story, handmade hats from our shop for their children ... anything that can help. I know that every act of kindness that you can get when your child is in treatment and in monitoring makes a world of difference. When Violet was diagnosed with cancer, a few very kind friends reached out to me and offered the contact information of other families they knew were going through the same with their children. At the time, I could not bring myself to contact these families. It was too much. I have so much empathy that when I talk to someone on the phone who has a cold I start to feel symptoms, so I just could not imagine taking on more than our own battle with cancer as it was overwhelming. I needed all of my strength to get my family th...

This week is World Retinoblastoma Awareness Week. Early diagnosis is crucial to offer the best chances of saving a child's sight and life. In honor of our brave little fighter, we are re-posting our very first post so that you may understand how the majority of children are diagnosed ... by their parents noticing the signs first and fighting to have their child seen by a specialist. On Monday, July 18th, our sweet baby girl Violet was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma, a very rare form of pediatric cancer that develops in the retina of the eye. The doctors did not catch this. We did. We don't know exactly when Violet got this cancer but she was seen regularly after birth for her weekly appointments, her 2 month, 3 month and then was seen twice when she was 4 months old because she had a bad cold. At all appointments her eyes were looked at and nothing out of the ordinary was seen. I have read that in most cases of Retinoblastoma general practitioners do not catch this con...