SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 2022, Sacramento mom Monica Padilla noticed her three-year-old daughter Vera wasn't acting like herself. She was sleeping often, had bruising and wasn't interested in eating.
Padilla assumed it was a virus, but when the rest of the family wasn't getting sick they called Vera's doctor.
Her doctor agreed and said it could be a delay in infection. Regardless, Padilla was told not to worry. When the symptoms didn't let up, she decided to take Vera to the emergency room.
"They go 'Hmm I'm sure she just has a virus,' and I go 'But she says her stomach hurts, something is not right, can we do something else besides going home with Tylenol?'' Padilla said.
After Vera's imaging came back clear, Padilla was reassured her daughter was fine. She asked for lab work but doctors told her to wait 10 to 14 days. They said if she wasn't feeling better to come back in.
Padilla didn't wait. She begged her pediatrician to do Vera's lab work.
"I get a call at 3 o'clock from my pediatrician, frantic, and she goes 'Monica, I need you to hurry to pediatric oncology. We're fairly certain Vera has cancer,'" Padilla said.
She needed immediate attention. Vera had several blood and platelet transfusions.
"Slowly, we see our daughter come back to life after about eight blood transfusions," Padilla said.
After a bone marrow biopsy showed that 90% of Vera's blood cells were leukemia. That would put her on a two to three-year treatment plan. This all came as a shock to the Padilla family who has no history of cancer.
"I had just really frankly asked our oncology team what would have happened if I would have waited the 10 days, and they said honestly she probably would have gone into a deep sleep and wouldn't have woken up," Padilla said.
Vera started her two to three-year treatment plan in July of 2022. She's set to complete it in October of this year. It led to a lot of side effects. She had to learn to walk again, she lost her hair and dealt with things like high blood pressure and mouth sores.
"I've asked our oncologist what can we do to help her, she's suffering, and they go 'Mom we're really sorry this is the best of what we have, this is what research supports,'" Padilla said. "I have been told dozens and dozens of times as a mom of a child fighting cancer there's just not enough research to support that, and that really makes me upset and makes me feel like I don't have control."
The Alliance of Childhood Cancer teamed up with St. Baldrick's Foundation for Action Days 2024. It's a time for survivors, parents and people in the cancer space to travel to Washington D.C., and advocate for research and funding. Padilla joined the effort to share Vera's story in front of lawmakers. She even had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with Congresswoman Doris Matsui.
"She said something really powerful to me which was 'Children are our future, and that should be all of them,'" Padilla said. "I'm used to advocating in the hospital so to me this is just an extension of what I have to do for my child, and I feel like I'm not only fighting for my child, but I'm fighting for every kid that is unfortunately going to get cancer. I want to make sure that as many moms that come after me, that they're being told less and less that research is a barrier for their child to be receiving the best care."
Padilla has created an online community called "Bad Luck Mom's Club," When Vera was diagnosed, she asked the doctors if she did anything that could have caused her cancer and they told her it was just bad luck. The World Health Organization says the majority of childhood cancers do not have a cause. Padilla said that means the majority of these moms just have bad luck.
She created t-shirts with the phrase and a yellow ribbon where all the proceeds go to St. Baldrick's Foundation. These t-shirts are considered warrior wear so moms can don them as they battle alongside their children and know there's a community surrounding them.
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