Grandma and Her Toddler Granddaughter Face Cancer at the Same Time: 'The Most Surreal Thing'

Mar. 15, 2025

An adult and a child holding hands (stock image).Photo:Getty

Getty

A grandmother and her toddler granddaughter are facing cancer at the same time.

“It was the most surreal thing,” Fivecoat, 62, toldGood Morning America. “We were literally running from MD Anderson to Texas Children’s, trying to just get there.”

Fivecoat’s daughter, Shelly McAfee, and her husband, Tyler McAfee, were told that Whitney had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is a cancer of the bone marrow and the blood, after she had swelling and bruising around her eye that later spread to her other eye.

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Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.Alamy

Alamy

After her cancer diagnosis, Whitney began chemotherapy. Her treatments required Shelly and Tyler to stay at Texas Children’s Hospital, which is a two-hour drive from their home, for more than 40 days,GMAreported.

Fivecoat, meanwhile, began chemotherapy for her breast cancer around the same time, according to the outlet.

“My mom’s chemo schedule fell on a Friday, so there were times where my mother-in-law would bring her to treatment, and they would actually stay with Whitney, and both my husband and I would be at home with our son,” Shelly told the outlet, referencing her and Tyler’s other child, a 4-year-old.

She added, “It was a good time for her to be there, to hang out with Whitney, but also a time to rest, and in the event that she didn’t feel great or needed to go back to MD Anderson, she was right there.”

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A patient with an IV (stock image).Getty

Later in June, Whitney underwent a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Two months later, Fivecoat had a double mastectomy.

Amid their respective treatments, both grandmother and granddaughter lost their hair — a side effect of their chemotherapy.

“When you know that your granddaughter, who at that point wasn’t even a year old, has already done that treatment, it made me realize, ‘You know what, I can do this,’ " Fivecoat toldGMA.

“There were several different instances where I was scared about what I had coming up, and Shelly would go, ‘Mom, Whitney’s already done that.’ So I’m like, ‘Well, okay, I can do this too, you know,’ " she added to the outlet.

Medical staff in an operating room (stock image).Getty

Whitney, for her part, has responded well to her transplant, the outlet reported.

Tyler toldGMAthat his child and his mother-in-law’s diagnoses “remind you how fragile life is.”

“And that it doesn’t obviously matter how old you are or what stage you are in your life, you never know what the next stage will bring,” he added.

source: people.com