It’s funny how life can turn so quickly and it seems as if things are going along so smoothly when suddenly, they change and our life is never the same again. That is what happened to David and Megan Green, whose daughter, Kinsley was not even a year old when she was diagnosed with a devastating disease. The diagnosis, which was for acute lymphoblastic leukemia absolutely turned them upside down and they knew that life was going to be different for the entire family from that point forward.
“On Saturday, October 20th, we were at my sister’s engagement party and by Monday we were in the ER being told, ‘You don’t want to know what I’m thinking’ and ‘We are so sorry, but we believe your daughter has cancer,’” Megan recalled. The parents, who are from Alabama tried to hold things together as good as they could but when you get news like that, it’s difficult not to fall apart.
Over the next few months, they would spend a lot of time at a Birmingham hospital, including long days and nights and holidays. Kinsley turned a year old in the hospital and she went through a number of rounds of chemotherapy. Since the hospital was nearly 100 miles from their home, Megan quit her job so she could stay with Kinsley full time. David drives down from work for three hours on a regular basis to visit but he ran out of sick leave in March.
David works at the Mae Jemison High School as a football coach and history teacher. He is more than a teacher to children in the classroom, however, he is a loving father to a little girl. Megan asked for help on Facebook from Alabama teachers who may have had sick days left to consider donating them. She never thought that she would get such a response.
It wasn’t just from Mae Jemison High School that the sick days came in. They were from many schools in the Huntsville area and it ended up being 100 sick days that were donated to David and his family. Wilma DeYampert, assistant principal at Lakewood Elementary also donated two days and she is battling with breast cancer.
“I could not imagine having a child and being away from the child,” Wilma said. “So, I just thought it was the right thing to do. My mom always said, ‘You don’t have to be rich to bless someone.’”
The Greens feel blessed with the situation and the generosity that the teachers have shown to their family. David is now able to help his 16-month-old girl fighting for her life through childhood cancer.
“We were blown away with the response that we received with the sick days. We were hoping to get a couple days so he could be here once a week,” Megan said. “It is a huge blessing and we can’t wait until we are in the position to give back and help others.”
Kinsley still has to go through a few months of inpatient treatment and another two years of treatments after that. We wish the best for this little girl and her entire family.