Maddy’s Story

Maddy is the face of Maddy's Memories Foundation. She is our WHY. But, who is Maddy?

Maddy is so many things. But I will start first with her story.

Madelyn Claire Pitman was born on April 28, 2020 as the 2nd beautiful daughter to Amanda and Nick Pitman. She was the little sister of Emma Kate, who was 2.5 at the time. Maddy was a beautiful, healthy, happy baby. Until she wasn’t. At 11 weeks old, Maddy became ill. She began vomiting, screaming in pain, and her stomach became distended. She was immediately taken to her pediatrician who had her directly admitted to the local children’s hospital (Blair E. Batson). After many scans, blood draws, and tests, she was diagnosed with Infantile Leukemia and was immediately intubated and began receiving multiple units of blood and platelets. Not only was the news of her diagnosis absolutely devastating, it was later determined that Maddy’s leukemia was even more rare and aggressive than originally thought it to be. She not only had Infant Leukemia, which in itself is already hardly ever seen, but she had both types of leukemia, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with the MLL/KMT2A gene rearrangement. With her diagnosis and age, she already had all the odds stacked against her.

Thankfully, six days after diagnosis and being in Batson’s PICU, Maddy was accepted into a trial at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She was flown from Batson’s PICU to St. Jude’s ICU, where she spent her 3, 4, and 5 month birthdays. She remained in the hospital for a total of 9 months. She was finally released on her 1st birthday. During those 9 months she received countless rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. For her first bone marrow transplant, she received cells from a total stranger. Her only 10/10 match that was found between family and on the bone marrow registry.

Unfortunately, her aggressive leukemia found its way back and she relapsed 80 days post her transplant. After that, Maddy spent a few more months in the hospital where she received more high intense chemotherapy, immunotherapy (Blina), total body radiation, and another transplant. Her second transplant was done using her dad’s cells, who was her half match. The doctors were worried Maddy would not be able to handle a 2nd transplant so soon after her first, but Maddy once again showed her strength and resilience by not only surviving the transplant, but thriving quickly after!

For the next 11 months, we made as many memories with Maddy as possible. She had spent almost the entirety of her life inside the walls of the hospital. So for those 11 months, we made sure to make up for lost time. Maddy and Emma Kate spent so much time together loving on one another and just being the sweetest and closest sisters you could ever meet. Their bond was and still is special and unbreakable. We made sure to take Maddy to the beach to dip her toes in the sand and the ocean. She hated both! Then, we were able to take her on a trip to Nashville (Thanks to Campaign One At A Time organization!). She loved Nashville! Maddy was a music lover through and through, so she couldn’t get enough of all the beautiful music played constantly throughout that city. It’s there where we found her one of her most prized possessions…a ukele, which was referred to as her Maddy sized guitar. She played it all the time. We also were sent on a Blue’s Clues themed staycation (Thanks to Make-A-Wish MidSouth!). Here, Maddy received a video from Josh on Blue’s Clues…her all time favorite show that played at our house 24/7…yes, even while she slept. For the staycation, we got to stay in the Peabody hotel in Memphis and be a part of the infamous Duck March. It’s here that Maddy discovered her love for ducks! We made more memories with extended family, celebrated birthdays, found out Maddy’s love for a good swing on our backyard swingset (she loved it so much we moved her swing into the house during rainy day!), had a family photo session done, and so much more!

It was these 11 months of memory making that prompted our idea for Maddy’s Memories Foundation. So many beautiful, incredible memories that we hold so close to our hearts.

On September 6, 2022, our sweet Maddy passed away. As you can imagine, the pain of losing her was and will always be utterly devastating. But, Maddy was and continues to be such a bright light in this dark world. As her family, we feel it in our hearts that it is our job to continue to carry that legacy of hers. Anyone who ever met Maddy, and even so many that never got to but have followed her story, will tell you the same things. Maddy was a unique and special soul. She radiated pure, unfiltered joy and sunshine. It was impossible to be in her presence and not feel the warmth and peace that consumed her and surrounded her.

Our goal is to use Maddy’s Memories Foundation to continue to help families in the darkest hour of their lives, by covering them in that same peace, warmth, and love that Maddy shared.