Grateful to Share His Story: " He's #TootStrong"

Photos Provided By: Bianca Rodriguez

 My name is Bianca Rodriguez and my Husband is Juan Rodriguez. We are from Portland TN

which is my husband's hometown. I’m originally from West Memphis Arkansas. We have two

children, Lerenzen 11 and Le’Riyah 6. 

On October 9th 2014 I gave birth to my daughter Le’Riyah, around that time Lerenzen was four about to be 5 on October 15.  My mom and aunt traveled from West Memphis AR to come and see our new baby girl. My son Lerenzen or toot as we call him, is spoiled rotten by those two,  so when they arrive at the hospital they’re hugging and kissing him all over. My mom noticed a bump on his stomach and she also noticed he was walking funny or sideways. She and my aunt wanted to take him downstairs to the ER to be checked, just to be on the safe side. Hours went by before they came back to my hospital room. When my mom came back in the room crying I knew something was wrong. Doctors said he had a tumor the size of a can of pork n beans on his liver, and he was bleeding internally. They had to take him right away to Vanderbilt children’s hospital to be monitored and to prepare for surgery. All of this the day I had my daughter.

On October 14th, Lerenzen had 10 hour surgery to remove 75% of his liver. He was diagnosed with a liver cancer called Embryonal Sarcoma.

Only 1 out of 100 could catch this type of childhood cancer. 

Lerenzen had to undergo 5 rounds of chemotherapy. With him being so young and the medicine being so strong I had to stay at the hospital for 5 days and 4 nights every month for him to receive treatment, and he had a home health nurse that came twice a week while we were at home. Those were the most trying times for me as a mom. My husband had to work to keep things afloat at home, so I wasn’t able to see him while at the hospital and I was now a stay at home mom with a newborn and my first baby is sick. My family is amazing and my biggest support system. My mom was able to stay with me for 5 months and my aunt who has lupus herself, drove 4 hours every Friday to be with us for the weekend. My in-laws, their church family and constant prayers helped me out a lot. I also thank god for my daughter. Without her I would have crumbled, I had to be strong enough to take care of her as well, she was still so small. I knew with her I had to be in my right mind.  I took her with me to the hospital all the time. 

Lerenzen Antione Fletcher I love that boy lol. I was only 17 when I had him so we’ve been through everything together. He’s so kind and funny and a true fighter. Throughout the whole journey he kept a smile on his face, he kept everybody so strong. He's pretty good at math and a certified GAMER lol. 

His art teacher called telling me he was really good at drawing, after he did a self portrait.  

Wow six years, and I think about it everyday. When he was diagnosed his doctors told me Embryonal Sarcoma is very treatable and beatable. We’re just so blessed and grateful for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Finding out your child has cancer is tough and scary because cancer does what it wants to do. We’re just thankful that he’s healthy, blessed and able to live life.

Please don’t get this mama bear started on football lol. Lerenzen plays Running Back, Wide Receiver and Safety. My boy is a running machine.  He enjoys football and hanging with his teammates. We had to wait for his liver to grow back completely before we put him in football so he had a late start, but everything worked out fine. 

I’m grateful for the opportunity to get his story out. When we were battling cancer I wish I had encouraging stories like this to read.  It gives people hope, makes them feel like they can beat it too, whether it’s cancer or any other disease. You are blessed and you are strong no matter what you're going through, you just got to have faith. Lerenzen has the best support system still, 6 years later. We just want to say thank you for always being #TootStrong!