Meet Kid Captain Adeline Lovell
Like many 4-year-olds, Adeline Lovell was known for boundless energy. When she spiked a fever and suddenly slowed down, her parents, Chris and Morgan, began to worry.
During a Fourth of July weekend, the family attended a party in Clear Lake, Iowa, during which Adeline appeared tired, “which was unlike her,” Chris says. “She typically goes 100 miles an hour, but she took a nap in the middle of the day.”
After the celebration, her parents noticed what looked like a rash on Adeline’s back and, thinking it might be a heat rash or a reaction to swimming in the lake, sent a photo to Adeline’s pediatrician, Kristin Avery, DO.
Avery – a lifelong friend of Morgan’s who had completed her residency at University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital – suspected the rash was petechiae, pinpoint-sized dots that can develop under the skin of someone with leukemia. Tests confirmed the probability of leukemia.
The young parents asked Avery what she would do if her own daughter had cancer. “Without hesitating at all, she said, ‘I would absolutely go to Stead,’” Chris recalls.
With Avery’s emphatic recommendation, Adeline’s family drove to the children’s hospital and met with pediatric hematologist/oncologist Jessica Zimmerman, MD, MS, who taught Avery during her time at UI Health Care, and who would become Adeline’s oncologist.
“It’s just remarkable to have this connection,” Chris says. “And it’s been such a blessing.”
Care with humanity, empathy
After arriving at the children’s hospital, Adeline received the official diagnosis of high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
“Chronic leukemia is something that takes place over time. It develops slowly,” Chris notes, citing Adeline’s elevated white blood cell count that placed her in the high-risk category. “High-risk acute leukemia is very fast acting. If you don’t address it, it will kill the patient quickly. Time is of the essence.”
A full care team met the family at the hospital, easing some of the stress Chris and Morgan felt as they prepared for this new health journey with their oldest child.
“You’re having the worst day of your life, by far,” Chris recalls. “But from the second we got there, from the people who checked us in at the very beginning, all throughout our entire journey, we’ve been met with nothing but care, professionalism, humanity, and empathy that is hard to describe. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
Adeline started chemotherapy right away, but later had a severe reaction. A few months into treatment, she experienced anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction to the medication. Her airway became constricted, and nurses rushed to administer treatment.
“It happened pretty fast,” Morgan says. “She started gasping for breath and started to swell really big. Everyone came running.”
“The amazing nursing staff saved her life,” Chris adds. “But it meant she couldn’t have that particular chemo in the future.”
Adeline was switched to a new alternative to the chemotherapy that she had reacted to, requiring a series of shots in the leg instead. She also was admitted to the hospital that day, rather than going home after what was planned to be outpatient treatment, which allowed Adeline to experience the Hawkeye Wave during a home football game.
“There are no words to describe the feeling of 70,000 people turning and waving at your daughter in the midst of such a challenge,” Chris says. “The love she, and we, felt has left an everlasting mark on our hearts.”
Adeline was in Iowa City for a two-week series of leg shots when another chance encounter occurred. The family decided to attend the celebration to welcome the Iowa women’s basketball team home after the NCAA national championship game. Star player Caitlin Clark walked through the crowd directly to Adeline, “a little bald-headed girl with her Hawkeye cheerleader outfit on,” Chris said, and gave her and her younger brother, Charles, a fist bump with a large trophy in hand, a moment they captured in a photo that was featured on the front page of their hometown newspaper.
A safe support system away from home
Now 6 years old and in first grade, the Clear Lake girl loves art, dance, jumping on the trampoline, and gymnastics, and dreams of becoming a Hawkeye cheerleader.
“She is just a little bundle of joy. She’s spunky, happy, extremely outgoing,” Chris says. “She’s extremely strong-willed and she is a little fighter. Some of that is part of who she is and part of it has been developed through this incredibly difficult experience she’s gone through at a young age.”
Adeline’s cancer is considered in remission, with chemotherapy scheduled to end in November.
“We don’t want her defined by cancer for the rest of her life, but it absolutely is part of her story,” Chris says, noting she has already been involved in blood drives, toy drives for patients, and other activities with the rest of the family, including sharing her experience on stage in front of a crowd of thousands of people during an event in Clear Lake.
Chris even ran the Chicago Marathon – his first one – with the Dance Marathon team to raise money for Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
Zimmerman says it is a privilege to be trusted to walk through a cancer journey with a family like Adeline’s.
“To be able to see a kid go through some really challenging things like Adeline has and come out on the other side continuing to be a bright and bubbly kid, it's really inspiring,” she says. “It's the happy part that most people don't think of when they think about pediatric oncology.”
“They become like family to you,” Morgan says of Adeline’s care team. “You see them every other day. They were there to give me a hug and be that support system.”
“We miss Iowa City when we are away,” Chris adds. “You just feel so safe there. There’s this unspoken support for patients at the hospital. You feel loved and you just feel like you’re at home. It will always be a special place for us.
Photos from Kids Day 2024
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