Violet Brielle Spataro

Violet is so loving with other children. There is just something very special about her caring nature. On many occasions she has told us how much she would love to have a brother or a sister. When we found out that we were pregnant at the beginning of April, we were so overjoyed and thrilled to let Violet know that she was finally going to be a big sister! Violet's face lit up and she jumped up and down with excitement after Josh and I shared the wonderful news with her. For the days to come Violet would sing about the joy of being a big sister and she would hug and kiss my belly. Violet would tell us, "I love our baby sooooo much. I am going to let them play with all of my toys!" After the first month, Violet told us that our baby was a boy and that she was going to have a little brother. It was so precious! She was so happy and our hearts melted as we imagined them playing together in the future. Every week Violet would ask to watch the video online of what our baby...

Violet's next EUA (Exam Under Anesthesia), labs, vision check and oncology clinic are coming up on April 9th and 10th. Please join us in praying for her safety, perfect health and complete healing. We will be posting same day updates to Violet's Facebook page  Violet Brielle - Surviving Retinoblastoma . We are very grateful for all of your prayers! Thank you all so much. (Photo from Violet's special Make-A-Wish trip to Disneyland. :) More to come on that magical trip!)

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. 

Our sweet Violet is having an amazing summer. We were blessed to start it off with a perfect EUA showing no recurrence! Tears of joy every time. We are so grateful to God for His loving mercy and for His protection over our family. <3 The night before Violet's EUA, we kept her up late in hopes that she would sleep in the next morning as she had a late check-in time. Since she is not able to eat anything before, we wanted her to sleep through as much of the morning as she could. It worked. Violet didn't wake up until 10AM and we had just enough time to get her ready and head out for Seattle Children's Hospital. Violet played games, colored a few pictures and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as we waited in the surgery center waiting area. She was doing really well with no food or drink. Unfortunately, Violet's ophthalmology team ran very behind on this day. We didn't get called back to begin the process of vitals and prep until a little over 2...

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!