Lifelong friends share greatest challenge with cancer diagnosis for cousins Logan and McClain

They don’t remember when they met. Anna Marie and Christine were born about two weeks apart and grew up in the same small Mississippi town. Their families were friendly, and they all attended the same church.

Christine and Anna Marie had tea parties and sleepovers. They made prank phone calls and got equal punishments after they ordered 20 pizzas once as a joke.

“That was Anna Marie,” Christine said. “I blame every bit of it on her.”

“Our moms made us pay for them,” Anna Marie recalls.  

Later, they went to college together and are now both teachers. 

Christine married Anna Marie’s cousin Bryson. It’s a rare day that they don’t talk or text or both.

These lifelong friends have shared so much. Now, both have daughters (fourth cousins) who are patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. They’re St. Jude moms — together.

In early 2023, Anna Marie’s daughter, Logan, now 4, and Christine’s newborn daughter, McClain, were both diagnosed with neuroblastoma. 

Neuroblastoma is a very rare type of cancerous tumor that almost always affects children. Tumors generally develop in the adrenal glands, located on top of the kidneys. It accounts for 50 percent of cancers in infants, making it the most common tumor in infants less than a year old. Most children with neuroblastoma are diagnosed before age 5.

As difficult as this situation is, these friends are grateful to have each other.

“I hate that we had to have each other. It’s terrible that we are both here, but it’s wonderful at the same time,” Christine said.

Logan’s Story

After 2-year-old Logan complained of leg pain and spiked low-grade fevers, her parents took her to their pediatrician. As Logan’s symptoms persisted over a two-week period, her pediatrician sent her to the emergency room at their local hospital where she was admitted for treatment. From there, she was transferred by ambulance to a children’s hospital two hours away. Anna Marie rode with Logan, while Jake, Logan’s dad, followed on ice-slick roads in his truck. 

At the hospital, an MRI scan showed a mass on Logan’s right adrenal gland. Because the scan results suggested a possible diagnosis of neuroblastoma, Logan was transferred to St. Jude that same day for diagnosis and to begin care. 

“From a mom’s standpoint, my heart was breaking for her,” Anna Marie said. “My heart was breaking for my child. There were so many emotions going on at that point.” 

McClain’s Story 

Thirty-six weeks into her pregnancy, Christine saw a specialist for an ultrasound. The scan showed a mass on the baby’s right adrenal gland. Christine and her husband Bryson were also sent to the children’s hospital two hours away. 

Two weeks after that fateful ultrasound, on Feb. 3, 2023, McClain was born weighing less than six pounds.  

At 9 days old, McClain was referred to St. Jude. Over the course of her treatment, she’s had surgery and chemotherapy. By McClain’s first birthday, she was out of treatment and at home for a celebration. 

“I feel like she didn’t really have a babyhood,” Christine said. “That makes me sad. That whole year was kind of surreal. I was (at St. Jude) every minute of every day. But now, it’s like it didn’t even happen.”

Everyone is in this fight 

Having both girls at St. Jude was a lot to process. But the two families found ways to come together to support each other, being there for surgeries, tests and scans.

Jake was the first person Christine and Bryson saw on their first day at St. Jude. When Christine checked in to family housing at St. Jude, Anna Marie was the first person to knock on her door. 

Back home in Mississippi, the dads are grateful they were close enough to St. Jude to drive in when needed. The grandparents from all sides have been a godsend.

“The unfortunate thing is, in a way life stops, but in a way, it has to keep going,” said Jake, a police officer.

Whenever Anna Marie is away with Logan, he’s been home working and looking after their 8-year-old son, Earlea, and 7-year-old daughter, Elizee.

“They just know their sister’s really sick and momma’s got to be away for a while,” he said. 

Logan is still in treatment but has been able to spend time at home, play with her siblings and make demands on how high her brother should push her swing.

Meanwhile, Bryson, a lineman for a power company has also been caring for Bryar, their 4-year-old son while mom has been at St. Jude with McClain.

“It’s been rough,” Bryson said. “But somebody’s got to work.”

It’s a relief now to watch McClain play with her brother, test her balance and hang on to furniture as she moves through the living room. 

“She’s been through so much at her age,” Bryson said. “You really want her to be into everything.”

St. Jude donors make it possible

Jake knows of other St. Jude patients in their town.

He didn’t know about the commitment St. Jude provides to families. 

“I had no idea until we got there,” Jake said. “Thank you is not enough.”

Christine and Anna Marie joke about how they imagine their daughters will be when they’re older and this journey is behind them. They hope McClain and Logan will be close.

“They’re going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Anna Marie said.