Help us raise money

Flynn and Bennett O'Hara are twin boys who were both diagnosed with leukemia just nine months apart. The chances of this are less than 1% - but they've both been fighting it with their all.

I made a career of being a caregiver as a nurse. I was confident in my knowledge and skills and  often sacrificed time with my family to be there for other families. I felt I was prepared for anything until my family experienced a crisis of our own and I received the phone call to pack a bag and take my son to Sinai Hospital-Dr. Bamme would be expecting us. As I collapsed to the ground, I knew in my heart that we would not be receiving good news when we arrived. When Flynn was admitted to the hospital for leukemia, I went through a whirlwind of emotions. I kept thinking how do I explain this to a 4 year old, what do I tell Bennett and their sister Nellie? Flynn LOVES his friends and family and LOVES being a kid.  He spent that first week in the hospital feeling very sad, scared, and defeated. He missed his friends and family so much. He had never spent this much time away from his twin, Bennett. The child life specialists, art therapist, team of doctors, nurses, volunteers, and more worked so hard to keep our entire family afloat. 

When Flynn got home, we adjusted to a new normal of frequent hospital visits for chemotherapy, blood, and platelet transfusions, unplanned hospital admissions, missed vacations, Flynn leaving school, and I had to stop working and stop going to school to be a Nurse Practitioner…all while during a pandemic.  This meant during hospital admissions, only one parent could be with Flynn, Danny had to now permanently work from home to keep our family safe, and there were no visitors allowed in the hospital.

We began to see the light at the end of the tunnel with Flynn as we headed out of the chaos and into the maintenance phase that would last from August 2021 to February 2023. Then, the unthinkable happened. Something that had a less than 1% chance of happening. On August 2^nd, 2021, Danny noticed Bennett’s gums bleeding. My stomach dropped as I used my own skills to give him an informal exam and found symptoms consistent with leukemia. I called Dr. Ungaru (he was on call) in hysterics, terrified that that this was happening again.  He was able to calm me down and help me make the decision to bring him to the clinic the next morning. Bennett went to see Flynn’s doctors Monday morning and once again, we were being told that our son has leukemia. 

Both of our sons had cancer. Leukemia.

I thought I’d felt all the hits that I could, but here we were; how could this be possible. We were about to feel normal and now we were starting all over, but with another child. We questioned so much… Why? How? Were the boys somehow identical, because that could explain it? What about our daughter? How do we protect her?

Fast forward to now...Both Flynn and Bennett are thriving in maintenance. They have finally started Kindergarten and absolutely love it. Bennett plays soccer every week, and Flynn attends an art studio each weekend (he really discovered his love for art with Sinai's art therapist, Peyton).  We spent the summer going to Ocean City- Flynn, Bennett, and Nellie love playing in the waves, building sandcastles, playing putt-putt with Dad, and eating out at restaurants!  We still have hospital visits, admissions, and bumps along the way. And their story certainly is not complete. However, we are finally feeling the normal chaos with our family of 5!

This is all thanks to the amazing care our family received at Sinai Children's Hospital!! And now we can't wait to give BACK to this amazing place.