SEATTLE — If plans go according to schedule, Seeley Borges is scheduled to be discharged from Seattle Children’s Hospital Monday.
“After spending nearly the entirety of her seven months of life in a hospital room, on Monday, our Seeley Borges will get her first taste of the real world without the weight and anticipation of another hospital stay,” said Hayley Borges, Seeley’s mother, in an email from Seattle.
“The plan is to be discharged from Seattle Children’s Hospital and move into a bone-marrow-transplant-isolation apartment at the Ronald McDonald House Seattle.”
Hayley said Seeley has been fighting cancer since she was three weeks old, first at the Kapi‘olani Medical Center with two rounds of chemotherapy, and then at the Seattle Children’s Hospital since January with two rounds of chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant.
“Our family will need to remain in Seattle until at least the end of June, or the 100 days post-transplant observation time,” Borges said. “As we adjust to an exciting and emotional life out of the hospital and provide the continuous medical care for Seeley, we are most excited for our girls to be together again. It will be 145 days since we last saw our other daughter Ainsley Jude by the time we are all reunited.”
“It has been much too long without seeing the other half of our heart, Ainsley, and we are anxiously awaiting the completion of her first-grade year at the Kapa‘a Elementary School and her summer dance recital on June 12 so that she can join us in Seattle,” Borges said.
A light in Seeley’s life-long battle against cancer in April broke through for the Borges ‘ohana, including Shawn Jordan, Hayley, Ainsley Jude and Seeley John.
“It’s been a long and difficult fight,” Borges said. “We got the news we prayed for on April 26 that Seeley had achieved remission from cancer. Although she will not be considered to be in ‘full remission’ until she is 5 years old, we have so much to be thankful for to get to this point.”
“We wouldn’t have been able to survive any of this without the help from my mom and dad, Larry and Wally Fernandes, my sister and brother-in-law, Hilary and Keanu Namakaeha, who has been raising Ainsley in our absence. Thank you to our extended friends and family who have stepped in to help us with everything and anything, and thank you to our community who have rallied around us, registering to be added to the bone-marrow donor list in hopes of being a match, donating and participating in events had benefits our little warrior.”
She said in lieu of a first birthday lu‘au for Seeley, the family on Oct. 22 will host a cancer-awareness fair, Be the Match Hawai‘i drive, blood drive and craft fair at the Saint Louis Alumni Clubhouse on O‘ahu. This event will benefit the foundations that help families in Hawai‘i fighting similar fights as the Borges ‘ohana.
She hopes to have a similar event on Kaua‘i.
“There isn’t enough words in the world to express our gratitude,” she said. “During some of our darkest times, we were incredibly blessed by everyone willing to share their light. We can’t wait to be reunited and bring our Kaua‘i girl home. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for loving us.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
