Lindsey Crowder plays softball pitching for the Lifeway Christian School softball team and enjoys the normal activities that most teen-age girls do. She spends time with her two younger brothers, Reece and Dawson, and enjoys playing with Lily, her yellow lab. She likes drawing, riding bikes, swimming and spending time at her grandparent's farm north of Pea Ridge where she kayaks and fishes on the creek. She attends Lifeway Christian School where she is a sophomore.
But, 13 years ago, her family could not envision her as a healthy teen-aged girl.
When she was 2 years old, Lindsey was diagnosed with ALL or Acute lymphoblastic leukemia and began an intensive series of treatments at Arkansas Children's Hospital. And, when she was 6, she relapsed. But now, it's been seven years that she's been in remission. She still has to visit ACH annually.
"I really don't remember a lot about it," Lindsey said recently, recalling mainly the playroom at ACH. "I remember some nurses."
"I praise God she can do that after four and a half years of chemotherapy," Lisa Crowder, Lindsey's mother, said. "She was a good patient. She was an obedient, sweet little girl."
"She went through two years of intensive chemotherapy," Lisa recalled.
Lindsey's parents, Todd and Lisa Crowder, and grandparents, Dean and Marjorie Crowder and Kent and Mary Margaret Webb, worked hard to help keep her mind off the treatments and any unpleasantness associated with it. Mrs. Crowder died this past June, but was an active participant in Lind
"She was pretty distracted," Lisa said, adding that family members read to her and spent time playing with her.
Through that experience, both grandmothers joined forces to form Granny's Quilts of Love in Pea Ridge, making quilts for children in Arkansas Children's Hospital. That club has grown and as of this date, has made 18,000 quilts for sick children. Mrs. Crowder died this past June, but was an active participant in Granny's Quilts of Love. The club has an annual dinner and auction to raise money for materials with volunteers making the quilts.
When Lindsey was 6, she relapsed and the family had to spend more than two years at ACH.
"We pretty much moved to Little Rock," Lisa said. "All three of my kids learned so many hard things. They are compassionate and see things differently because of this experience."
Lindsey was first diagnosed thanks to her maternal grandmother, Mary Margaret Webb, who was working in the lab at a local doctor's office.
"She had bruising behind her knee," Lisa recalled, and her mother told her to take her to the doctor. Webb was the one who read the results.
"She was amazingly calm," Lisa said of her mother. "We've had such an amazing support system of family, church, community."
Lindsey didn't show any signs of illness the first time or when she relapsed, Lisa said. "We were going along thinking she's healed when out of the blue, the test results came back and her blood work had bottomed out."
Through it all, Lisa said her faith was strengthened and she's learned to prioritize.
"Find your faith in God," Lisa recommends to parents, "build that relationship and put life in perspective. Put God first, then family, then friends."
"When that happened, you don't care what kind of house you live in, what kind of car you drive. When your child is sick, all you care about is them getting well."
The Crowders attend Grace Hills Church, Rogers, where Lindsey helps with the nursery.
Community on 09/03/2014