Pictured above: Jennifer Cochran, Spencer Gard, Sarah Buck, Charlsie Gard, Jeremy Gard, and Jake Buck

Charlsie’s Journey

On November 9, 2023, Charlsie had a chiropractor visit before school. She had recently fractured her back at a trampoline park and needed to have some adjustments. When she was in the office, Charlsie told her chiropractor that she was experiencing an unusual feeling in her lower abdominal area, particularly when was on the elliptical bike. When the chiropractor looked at it, she immediately knew something was wrong and told Charlsie she needed to go to the Emergency Room.

Once Charlsie got to the Emergency Room, she had an ultrasound, x-ray and CT scan, per her chiropractor’s recommendation. After what seemed like forever, the charge nurse entered the room and told Charlsie the news – she had cancer. Charlsie and her family were left it shock.

Charlsie was then admitted to the Children’s Hospital at Greenville Memorial. It was there that the doctors did the biopsy and port placement. Once they had the results, Charlsie started 14 rounds of chemotherapy, over the next year. During this time, Charlsie also underwent several other medical procedures including kidney stent placement, debulking surgery, 24 rounds of radiation and a Y-90 procedure.

Charlsie’s treatment seemed to work well for about a year. But after going on a trip to New York with her family, Charlsie started to not feel well. She went in for a scan and found the cancer had once again spread all over. She was immediately admitted to Greenville Memorial Hospital and started a new treatment called Enhertu. Twenty-three days later, another PET scan was administered and revealed a lot of the cancer had resolved – the Enhertu was working!

Today, Charlsie still is still on the road to recovery. She is battling edema and getting albumin transfusions with Lasix multiple times a week. She also uses compression boots to help with the swelling.

Charlsie’s Impact

Last year, Charlsie wanted to organize a toy drive for young patients during the Christmas season. “My own experience of being in the clinic and inpatient, especially around the holidays – it’s hard… it gets very sad and lonely… Dealing with cancer and trying to fight it and survive… and so I saw the idea of making a toy drive for all ages would help brighten their day,” she explains. Charlise and her family publicized the inaugural Toy Drive in their neighborhood and had a great response with many donations to the Children’s Hospital at Greenville Memorial.

A year went by and as the winter months began approaching again, Charlsie wanted to organize another Toy Drive. “Charlsie thinks of others before herself – even before cancer. She’s always been very thoughtful,” Charlsie’s mom, Jennifer, exclaims. “So I wasn’t surprised when she decided she wanted to do this again this year.” Jennifer Cochran serves with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron at Joint Base Charleston in the Air Force Reserves . When she went back drill at the beginning of December, Jennifer mentioned that her daughter was collecting toys for the oncology unit if anyone wanted to donate.

Jake Buck, a colleague of Jennifer’s unit, approached her and said he wanted to help. And that’s where it took off. Jake advertised the toy drive on their Community Page and received donations from over 100 people. “It was just so amazing – people who don’t even live here, are willing to give and support Charlsie,” Jennifer exclaims.

“It’s seeing someone you care about – a teammate – go though all of that…” Jake says. “I told Jen, if you guy need anything at all, please let us know. And she said she needed toys – so I knew we were going to come together and get as many of them as we could.”