Delta was determined to get to her dad at St. Jude. Millions cheered her on.

Delta had a hitch in her walk, but the 3-year-old willed herself to go faster. Determined, she moved across the parking lot to get to her dad, Hayden.  

She wore a backpack emblazoned with the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® logo. Under her ball cap, she was bald from chemotherapy. 

Delta was at St. Jude undergoing leukemia treatment, while Hayden held down his job at the electric company back home in Mississippi.  

It was lonely, Hayden said, being away from his wife and two daughters for the work week, but “with some things, you’ve just gotta do what you’ve gotta do.”  

Hayden had driven three hours to be at St. Jude for this reunion. 

“I got out of the vehicle, and I heard someone yell, ‘Dad! Dad! Dad!’ And I look over, and it was Delta,” said Hayden.  

He hugged his little girl and lifted her into his arms.  

Delta’s mom, Chelsie, recorded the whole thing with her cell phone and posted it online.  

This glimpse into the family’s life at St. Jude became a viral phenomenon and has racked up more than 3 million views since March 2024. 

Seeing his little girl, said Hayden, “It just melted my heart.” 

A deep breath 

Delta caught a cold in November 2023. The symptoms seemed to get worse instead of better, and she felt tired all the time. One day, she fell asleep and woke up with hives from head to toe. Within days, she tested positive for infectious mononucleosis. Then she tested positive for streptococcal pharyngitis, or strep. She just kept getting sick. 

The day after Christmas in 2023, Chelsie took Delta back to the pediatrician for bloodwork. The results were abnormal.  

The local hospital ran tests, and when the doctor walked into the exam room, Hayden braced himself. 

“If someone is going to tell you bad news, usually you can watch their shirt,” said Hayden. “There’s going to be a deep breath or a light breath. He took a deep breath, so I pretty much knew what he was about to say.” 

The doctor told them Delta had leukemia.  

“You're flooded with all kinds of emotions, and you don't know how to feel in that one moment except for to grab your baby and just hold them,” said Chelsie. 

Delta was referred to St. Jude, where a diagnosis of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) was confirmed. Delta’s doctor explained to Chelsie and Hayden about what it meant to have leukemia and the treatment to come. 

“Just having someone sit down and connect with you in a situation where your world is turned upside down and you don’t know what tomorrow holds, it gives you peace of mind,” said Chelsie. “They care about your daughter, but they also care about you.” 

At St. Jude, Delta began a multi-year chemotherapy plan to induce remission of ALL. Delta’s treatment is based on the protocol developed for the Total 17 trial at St. Jude, which personalizes treatment based on analysis of the DNA in both the leukemia cells and healthy cells of each patient while also accounting for other known risk factors for disease recurrence. 

This precision treatment approach reflects some of the most recent breakthroughs in more than six decades of progress in treating ALL at St. Jude, building on lessons from the previous 16 Total Therapy trials at St. Jude and tailoring medicine to eliminate the disease while minimizing side effects. 

“It was going to be a long road,” said Hayden.  

One that would take them far from their home in the Mississippi country. 

A long road 

Delta isn’t just a product of growing up in the country. She is the country. 

She seems to have sprung from the rich, alluvial soil of the Lower Mississippi River Delta where she was born. Like the streams that course through Mississippi like a circulatory system bound for the Gulf of Mexico and bringing life to the land, Delta is a vibrant and vital part of her family.  

Before cancer, Delta spent her childhood outdoors in nature and the huge, inexhaustible expanse. Hot and sweaty from play. Dirty fingernails from digging. Shoes damp from tromping through high grasses. Important missions that had to do with catching frogs or baby chicks or bugs. 

Her family had chickens, and she would scoop up the baby chicks and crawl into the hammock with them. 

“It was the funniest thing. She could hold them like this right here,” Hayden said, mimicking the way she cradled the chicks, “and within five minutes, the chickens would be full-on asleep.” 

At St. Jude, when Delta’s parents viewed her slides under a microscope, they thought the purple leukemia cells looked like bugs. And bugs this country girl with dirt under her nails understood. 

Hayden sat Delta down. 

“Delta’s sick,” he said. “Delta has these purple bugs in her body. For Delta to get better, you got to take this medicine and this medicine will make Delta's hair fall out.” 

In fact, Delta’s hair was already beginning to fall out with tufts of it on her pillow and left behind on her hairbrush.  

“So, Delta's hair fall out?” the little girl asked. 

“Yes, baby, your hair is going to fall out,” Hayden said. 

“OK, but this medicine make Delta feel better?”  

“Yes, baby, the medicine is going to make you feel better,” said Hayden.  

Delta nodded, and that was that.  

St. Jude was helping to kill the purple bugs. Her dad had said so. She accepted it. 

A few days later, Delta wore her princess dress as the hairdresser shaved her head bald. 

Delta accepted everything. 

Not long after chemo began, in January 2024, Delta suddenly lost all movement in her left arm and leg. Scans showed she had an abscess on her brain. The combination of leukemia and chemotherapy weakened Delta’s immune system, putting her at risk for infections anywhere in the body. 

“St. Jude was so quick. They started antibiotics immediately and transferred her to the ICU,” said Chelsie. 

Delta was transferred to the local children’s hospital, where she underwent brain surgery to have the abscess drained and cultured. Following surgery, Delta transferred back to St. Jude to continue treatment for ALL and begin physical therapy. 

She was just beginning to walk again on the day Chelsie recorded her video. 

Girl dad  

When Hayden watched the video of Delta, he said, “It hit me hard.” 

“That was a great distance. She was exhausted the whole time before she got there. But she still managed to push through and get to me.” 

Hayden thought back to a time before Delta was born. He had wanted a son so badly.  

He had dreams of throwing the football with his son. Of going fishing. Of riding the four-wheeler. He wanted a tough kid. He imagined that had to be a son. 

So, when Chelsie got pregnant, he wished for that boy. Maybe even prayed for that boy. 

“I did not expect myself to be a girl dad,” he said. “When we found out we were having a girl, I was sort of bummed out.” 

His two daughters, Dani and Delta, surprised him at every turn. They threw the football, went fishing, rode the four-wheeler.

But it was more than that. 

“You see a 3-year-old that hasn’t been dealt the best of cards since Christmas, but not once has she asked why she’s here,” said Hayden. “She still has the willpower to push through everything.” 

He thought about Dani, too. At 6 years old, Delta’s older sister and protector would have loved to have had more of her parents’ attention, but she understands that, right now, Delta needs it. 

Dani had persevered and become a great helper by carrying Delta’s bags with her chemo pumps or helping pick up toys. 

“There’s a lot of times we’ll sit and talk to her and say, ‘Dani, we’re proud of you for everything you’re doing. You may not realize it, hon, but you’re doing very, very good.’” 

He had been wrong about what strength looked like.  

“It broke me down. It made me feel very humble,” said Hayden. 

“Daddy, lift me up higher,” Delta had said to Hayden that day in the parking lot. 

But she and Dani are the ones who have lifted him up.  

“The Lord knew what he was doing when he made me a girl dad.”