Shelby in her special "Leukemia DESTROYER" cape

Toddlers destroy things. Ask any parent of a 2-year-old sitting in a back seat stained with grape juice, French fries and something that better be last Thursday’s beef jerky.

But the destroyer moniker that Julie is most proud to have her daughter, Shelby, wear is “Leukemia DESTROYER.” It’s a small yellow and black iron-on patch on a superhero cape gifted by her Down syndrome support group in Tampa. The underside, covered with the words “Hope, Courage and Strength,” could not be more fitting. Since all toddler moms are deprived of free time, the Heart Heroes patch supporting Shelby’s successful congenital heart defect surgery last year will have to wait to be added.

Sparse free time from her 22-year career at Hillsborough County Fire Rescue was spent planning Shelby’s second birthday party and filling 150 Easter eggs with tiny treats to be hidden in their Apollo Beach backyard for 20 friends and family members to hunt. That celebration would later be canceled by a pre-dawn phone call revealing Shelby’s latest blood test results. They were immediately back at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Julie knows the drive well. Shelby spent six weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after complications from nuchal cord — a condition when the umbilical cord is wrapped around a baby’s neck during pregnancy. When Shelby was 6 months old, James Quintessenza, M.D., successfully repaired an atrioventricular canal defect — a hole in Shelby’s heart.

“Her heart is perfect. Dr. Q just had to fix it,” says Julie.

“Children with trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) have a higher incidence of leukemia than other kids,” says Jennifer Mayer, M.D., a pediatric hematologist-oncologist in the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute. “Shelby had transient abnormal myelopoiesis, or TAM, during infancy and because of this, she has been closely monitored in our outpatient oncology clinic since birth. This close medical care helped identify Shelby’s new cancer at a very early stage.”

“Children with Down syndrome are exquisitely sensitive to chemotherapeutic agents,” adds Mayer. “She will spend much of the next six months on the inpatient unit receiving chemo and being monitored for side effects and infections. It is a challenging journey but with the state-of-the-art treatment available here at Johns Hopkins All Children’s, we anticipate a successful outcome, and we look forward to celebrating many future birthdays with her.”

Shelby’s second birthday party is celebrated in a hospital room, a week after starting chemotherapy. Blue walls, illuminated more from her joyful smile than from the florescent and LED lights above, are covered with Easter bunny decorations and pictures made by her day care classmates and teachers. Scattered toys and an IV pole make a path for her new hot pink car, which makes Shelby laugh as Julie pushes her around the room. Oh, how they both long for her in-room isolation to end so they can speed down the hallway.

The Easter eggs Julie intended to hide in the backyard are donated to Stephanie Sharf, M.S., CCLS, a Child Life specialist at the hospital who visits Shelby daily. “Shelby is so sweet. She loves to clap her hands when you walk in the room,” Sharf says. “We’re going to use the eggs to motivate kids who can leave their rooms by hiding them around the unit’s hallways and share holiday joy for children and families.” Fear not, Sharf has an in with the Easter bunny and knows something special will happen in Shelby’s room too.

“I wasn’t going to let them go to waste, and we couldn’t have an Easter egg hunt in October when she’s all better,” Julie says.

You don’t get to be a mother of a superhero by not caring for others.