When Life Gives You Lemons
/Seven-year-old cancer survivor Emma Cooley gives back to St. Jude
By Ellen Orr
Photo by chloe sanders.
Emma Cooley is a curly-haired, spirited seven-year-old from Hope, Arkansas. She loves dancing, building Lego kits, making her parents laugh, and playing with her little sister, Elizabeth. Enrolled in the first grade at Spring Hill Elementary, she is an eager student and was even named Student of the Month in September. Though Emma’s life now seems quite normal, this is not a reality that any of the Cooleys take for granted. Only 11 months ago, after two and a half years of treatment, Emma completed her final round of chemotherapy.
Photo by jenna lane photography.
Emma’s cancer story began in May 2020, near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cooleys—then a family of three—were in a small social bubble, keeping any and all viruses at bay, which made three-year-old Emma’s minor illnesses somewhat alarming.
“She had sporadically thrown up here and there, was getting bruises, and had a temperature,” Emma’s mom, Chelsea, recalled. The doctor assumed that Emma had contracted a minor virus, despite the family’s precautions. When Emma suffered a minor tumble and fractured her elbow, her parents were perplexed; “It wasn’t an epic fall or anything,” Chelsea said. But they chalked it up to a fluke and moved on.
When Memorial Day weekend arrived, Chelsea’s parents took Emma to the lake, and Chelsea and her husband, Dustin, planned to meet them there the next morning. Before they made it out of town, however, Chelsea’s mother called: Emma had a fever of 104 degrees. The concerned grandmother, who happened to be an RN, urged her daughter to get Emma tested for leukemia, out of an abundance of caution. Chelsea heeded the advice.
When Emma’s pediatrician, Dr. Cindy Porter, called Chelsea after the appointment, she told the family to head directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis; Emma had tested positive for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The Cooleys lived in Memphis for the next three months, while Emma underwent her first phase of cancer treatment. Mere weeks into their stay, Chelsea, who was pregnant at the time, had a miscarriage. Due to COVID restrictions, as well as Emma’s diminished immune system, the Cooleys could have no visitors. Chelsea and Dustin were away from their home, friends, and family, grieving the loss of a pregnancy and watching their small child withstand cancer and the effects of the aggressive treatment required.
Fortunately, Emma’s team at St. Jude was phenomenal, quickly getting Emma into remission and providing the entire family with the support they needed. She received Total Therapy 17, the first treatment protocol for leukemia patients guided primarily by DNA analysis. The genomes of leukemic and host cells were sequenced so that treatment could be tailored specifically to Emma’s body, ensuring that the cancer was eradicated.
Emma holds a Barbie doll sporting a matching bald head.
“At St. Jude, it’s all about the kid,” Dustin said. “They are all one big team.”
“And I think, because of COVID, it was a different experience,” Chelsea continued. “We weren’t able to be around our family, so we had to rely on [the staff at St. Jude], and they became like family.”
After returning to Hope at the end of the summer, Emma continued to undergo treatment, going weekly either to Memphis or the St. Jude affiliate clinic in Shreveport. For 30 months, she took chemo by mouth daily, as well as antibiotics and steroids. One of the chemo drugs, vincristine, caused painful back spasms and weakened her leg muscles to such an extent that Emma lost the ability to stand or walk on her own; with the use of a walker and the guidance of a physical therapist, Emma had to relearn how to walk. Additionally, the steroids affected her emotions, causing extreme irritability, in addition to a voracious appetite. When her doctors detected a blood clot in her heart, Emma had to receive injections in her belly for four months. Virtually without an immune system, Emma suffered from various bacterial and viral infections, despite her parents’ best efforts. Every fever required a trip to the emergency room and typically resulted in a five-day stay.
Painful muscle spasms, a side effect of the chemotherapy, took Emma’s ability to walk. She redeveloped the skill with a walker.
Through this incredible hardship, Emma and the family persevered. Chelsea became pregnant again and gave birth to Elizabeth, who is now two years old. Emma, who was not able to remain in preschool through her treatments, attended kindergarten last year. Despite accruing many absences due to sickness and treatment, she was named top girl in her class. In January 2023, she completed her final cancer treatment. She will have biannual checkups at St. Jude until she reaches adulthood, one of which occurs around the winter holidays. This appointment is extra special for Emma, who uses the occasion to deliver Lego kits to the hospital.
In January 2023, Emma finished chemotherapy and rang the bell at St. Jude.
“When they’re in the hospital, [kids with cancer] don’t have a lot of energy to get up and do a lot of stuff,” Chelsea explained. “So they have a little table, and they sit and build. That’s what Emma did all the time.”
“I wanted to do fundraising,” Emma recalled, “and Daddy said, ‘Let’s do Lego fundraising!’”
“Her prognosis is good. Now she gets to
be a normal child.”
“It was a good, fun thing to build in the hospital,” Dustin continued, “so we figured it might be a good idea [to hold a Lego drive].”
The 2022 drive, which Chelsea and Dustin advertised online, resulted in over 300 Lego kits, which Emma was able to deliver to the hospital. At the time of writing, the 2023 drive is underway.
In addition to the Lego drive, Emma has also given back to St. Jude through a lemonade stand, inspired by another of her favorite treatment-time pastimes.
“I had a little cardboard box that I would pretend was a lemonade stand, and I would sell lemonade and cheese-and-grape skewers,” Emma said. “I would have my fake cash register and do all of it.”
Emma would tell Chelsea, “You have to get all the customers, Mom!” So, Chelsea would call neighbors and grandparents and ask them to come visit Emma’s front-porch operation. Emma loved it. So, when September 2023 rolled around, and the family wanted to do something to commemorate Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a public lemonade stand was a natural choice. They borrowed a wooden stand from photographer Heather Clements and set it up at The Hub in downtown Hope. The Texarkana Chick-Fil-A donated the lemonade, and Emma’s neighbors Westin and Kip—once her customers—helped her sell to passersby. The kids raised over $1,400 for St. Jude.
“It was awesome,” Emma enthused. “We had lots of customers, and two people gave us $100. It was amazing.”
Photo by ellen orr.
The Cooleys continue to be thankful for the support and prayers offered by their family, friends, church, and larger community.
Though she intends to continue her cancer philanthropy, Emma’s cancer is essentially in the rearview. “Her prognosis is good,” Chelsea explained. “Now she gets to be a normal child.” She is enrolled in dance, completed a season of t-ball earlier this year, and even goes bow hunting with her dad. “During treatment, she wasn’t allowed to play in the dirt, and she had all of these food restrictions—just so many [restrictions] you wouldn’t even think of. Getting to see her experience all of that now is just awesome.”