TURNERS FALLS — Leukemia gave 5-year-old Indira Wiles a more-than-two-year fight for her life, but as of last week doctors say that she is cancer free, chemotherapy free, and to her family’s relief, her tiny body shows no evidence of disease.
The family cycled in and out of chemotherapy sessions at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, sometimes five days a week, sometimes once a week, with many emergency room visits in between for spiking fevers.
While doctors predict a 93-percent chance of the cancer never returning, the family is still struggling with the trauma the leukemia left behind.
“People don’t understand what, as a family, we are going through with this. People just don’t have any idea, for the rest of our lives what we are going to go through,” said her mother Kari Ann Wiles.
Every bruise Indira gets, every time she is tired, or has to go to the doctor, her mother feels overwhelming anxiety.
Normal routines took a back seat to battling the cancer. The family stayed within a one-hour drive of the hospital for more than two years, just in case Indira started to burn up with a fever. Christmas and Thanksgiving were spent in the hospital. These moments are still fresh in their minds, and the wounds are just beginning to scab over.
“It’s difficult, it really is. It’s a fresh scar. We just pulled the Band-Aid off. Eventually it will get better and go away, but right now it’s right in the forefront of our minds,” she said.
Indira doesn’t yet understand that her illness is gone. “The doctors continue to tell me, ‘the further out we get, the easier it will be.’ It is still very fresh in her mind,” said Wiles.
While the illness lingers on in their minds, the family is doing its best to celebrate with an upcoming beach vacation and a trip this week to Six Flags. They are eager to move on, repay medical bills and start a new chapter.
Now, the family is planning an End of Chemo party to celebrate Indira’s recovery, to thank the community and to raise money to pay medical bills.
The party on Aug. 20 at Thomas’ Memorial Golf and Country Club in Turners Falls starts at 4 p.m. The party will feature a bounce house, a DJ and food. Drinks will be served at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $15 person or $25 per couple. Tickets for children 13 and under are free and children over 13 are $5.
The tickets will be on sale at Food City in Turners Falls on Aug. 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased by calling Kari Ann Wiles at 413-863-3575.
Donations can also be sent to Indira Wiles at 16 Letourneau Drive, Turners Falls, MA 01376.