Our Why.. 

The Riffles - a very close-knit, family of five. 

My husband, Dakota and I have three beautiful children, Alayna (9), and our Twins -Watson and Maverick (5).

Maverick was a typical 10-month-old baby, crawling, pulling to stand up, and enjoying every minute spent with his siblings. As we entered the month of July (2019), Maverick started to become more "timid". He no longer wanted to play, he lost his ability to sit up, and he stopped crawling. We took Mav to his pediatrician twice in seven days. The first time we went to the doctors, they believed that he was losing his balance because of an ear infection, after blood work, and antibiotics, he was losing even more mobility. By the following week, his pediatrician sent us to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to have him evaluated. 

On July 30th 2019 our sweet Maverick was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. A tumor was growing rapidly on his spine, behind his lung, and taking over his spinal column. By 2:00 am that morning, a PICC line was run into his heart, and his first round of Chemotherapy started by 6:00 am. Maverick had two very aggressive rounds of chemotherapy, a double laminectomy and a 95% tumor resection. 

Maverick was carefully monitored and in October of 2022 he was officially in REMISSION! We felt so much relief, but only for a little while. In late October Maverick's twin brother Watson started getting intense headaches, his gait changed, he was losing weight, and crying in pain. 

On January 9th of 2023 our other son, Watson was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a Pilocytic Astrocytoma. The tumor was found in his Cerebellum blocking the flow of CSF out of his brain stem. Watson's brain was hardening, and he was wheeled into emergency brain surgery within 6 hours of arriving at the hospital. Watson had an EVD placed in his brain to continue draining the excess fluid and was stable after about a week, when he was allowed to return home. Over the next several years we will continue to monitor his brain, the excess fluid, cysts and residual tumor, all while praying that he will be in REMISSION like his twin brother.

God certainly blessed us when he gave us these three beautiful babies, but we never knew the story he would give us to tell... and while some days are just down right scary to face... we know that he gave us this journey for a reason, and I cannot thank you all enough for taking the time to be a part of it all. Grief, Joy and Blessings come in waves and we want to share as much of the Joy and Blessings as we can, even in the thick of the grief.