Natalie’s Story

On January 31, 2022 the Dodge family found themselves in the ER with their 16 month old daughter, Natalie. What was suspected to be a dislocated shoulder ended in a cancer diagnosis with a survival rate of 30-50%. Natalie was diagnosed with stage 4 MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma, an extremely aggressive and rare cancer. Only about 800 children receive this diagnosis each year in the United States. Natalie’s diagnosing hospital was not equipped to treat her diagnosis and her parents were left discussing next steps and palliative care with doctors. By the grace of God, Natalie was quickly accepted at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN where the survival rate looked more like 85%! To receive this treatment, Natalie and her mom had to move over 700 miles away from home and their support system. They have been living at St. Jude (while her dad and four older siblings live in Virginia) for the past 10 months. By another miracle, they just found out that they get to move HOME for Christmas!!

Natalie has received 5 rounds of intense chemotherapy and immunotherapy, 2 bone marrow transplants, surgery and 13 rounds of radiation. She still has 6 months of immunotherapy ahead and she and her mother will commute to and from St. Jude for 10 days once a month.

By God’s mercy Natalie was declared in remission in July and her scans continue to be clear! We are so honored to launch the shirt they designed for preorder so people can support their family in a tangible way!

A note from her parents on the shirt’s design -

“All year long we’ve asked those around us to pray and fast for Natalie’s healing, and while those are things we can all physically do (and we believe they are more powerful when paired together!), we’ve always done our best to surrender to whatever God’s will is for her life and our family, knowing everything is done for our good. Our prayer has been that God would use her life to draw more people to Himself. We are so grateful for God’s tender mercies and miracles along this journey. The color of the shirts is significant because it reminded us of the Blue Ridge Mountains of home… where we’ve hoped to be reunited as a family one day!”