On Thursday, February, 18, Sheena Oujezdksy took her daughter Cheyenne, 4, to the hospital after her flu-like symptoms worsened.
“We’re going through the week and we’ve got her Tamiflu and we’re going through it all and she started to seem like she was feeling better,” Oujezdsky said. “Then over the weekend she spiked a fever and it was over 105… And then it was just to where she wanted to be held and she was in a lot of pain.”
Doctors at Covenant Children’s Hospital ran blood tests on Cheyenne and determined that she had lymphoblastic leukemia.
“From the flu to leukemia,” Oujezdsky said. “I’m still in shock over it.”
On Monday, the 4-year-old underwent her first batches of chemotherapy at Covenant. Sheena said that the initial round seemed to go well.
“From the moment that she came in,” Oujezdsky said, “she was so tight. Her body was so swollen. Since we’ve gotten here, they’ve taken really good care of her and shes been able to talk more and move her body more which is great.”
Sheena described Cheyenne as a fighter and her “trooper” — traits that Cheyenne likely learned from her mother, a former marine and Officer with Lubbock ISD.
Sheena has spent the last four months of her life trying to cope with the death of her husband Jonathan.
“Losing their dad was the hardest thing for me.” Sheena said. “I don’t know how I do it, but I do. Somebody has to.”
She said that she is staying strong through all the hardship by focusing on her children.
“When you’re a mother, you will do anything for your children.” She said. “I’m all they have left. I can’t leave their side. I have to stay strong for them and that’s something that I have to accept – that I have to stay strong for them because I’m all they have.”
Oujezdsky said that her friends, family and former peers in the Marines, LISD and local law enforcement have all stepped up to help her family.
“Cheyenne’s a very loved person,” she said, “very loved.”
If you want to help the Oujezdsky’s you can find a GoFundMe opened in their name by CLICKING HERE.
