From the earliest weeks of Emmy’s diagnosis, family was present. Not just in spirit — physically, logistically, concretely present.
Aunt Kim came and stayed for weeks during the summer of 2016, lending hands while Mike made cross-country trips to help other family members move. Grandparents traveled from the East Coast. When Emmy went to Boston for proton therapy in the summer of 2017, her grandmother flew out to travel with Ewan — making sure the family could be together as much as possible through a months-long separation from home.
“We have been lucky to have Aunt Kim staying with us for the last few weeks helping out,” Mike wrote. “It has been huge having an extra set of hands while Aja works long hours at the hospital.”
Family kept showing up in all the ways family can: hosting Ewan when his parents were in the hospital, making long drives over mountain passes, keeping the household running through the fog of treatment. This kind of showing up doesn’t make headlines. It’s just love in its most practical form.