A three-year-old Windsor girl is undergoing her first chemotherapy treatment Friday after she was diagnosed with leukemia.
Irelynn Montgomery is at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. She was airlifted there last Saturday.
Her parents, Jen and Jay, began to suspect something was wrong when the rambunctious toddler complained of leg pain. At first, they figured it was just growing pains, but Irelynn's pain persisted, so they took her to the emergency department at Windsor Regional Hospital.
A photo of Irelynn Montgomery courtesy of Irelynn Warrior on Facebook.
Doctors there conducted x-rays and took blood work. They thought maybe she had broken her leg, but then the test results came in.
It has been a tough go for the family. Irelynn has a twin brother, Colton, two older brothers and an older half-sister, but Jay Oles, her uncle, has been getting regular updates at home.
He is promoting a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $5,000 to help the family pay for expenses while they stay by Irelynn's side. Her illness has already been very hard on her parents.
"You know how it is, you have to pay so much to get some kind of medication, and the travelling expenses, and with both the mother and father, Jay and Jen being off work for the foreseeable future," he said. "I'm trying to do something to help them relax about finances and help them with their rent and their bills while they're tending to their daughter."
Irelynn holds a special place in Oles' heart. When he would call his niece "Boo," she would answer "Bee," and so she came to be known as "Boo-Bee" in the family.
"I think she knows that something is not right, obviously because she's laying up in a hospital bed connected to an IV," said Oles who also called her his "Princess Warrior". "She still laughs, and she still feeds her baby -- she plays."
Oles has an idea of what his niece is going through being a survivor of stage two myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer that inhibits the body's ability to produce blood cells. His diagnosis came four years ago.
A photo of Irelynn Montgomery courtesy of Irelynn Warrior on Facebook.
"All that beautiful blonde hair," Oles said, holding back tears. "I feel so bad for her."
The family is also organizing a pasta dinner but is looking for help from the business community too.
"Whether it be monetary or some type of gift that we can use to raffle, anything that we can use to help this family through their hard times right now," added Oles, saying anyone interested can go to the Facebook page, Irelynn Warrior.
The pasta fundraiser is tentatively scheduled for February 1.