Franklin County family draws inspiration and hope from multiple sources as it navigates through difficult journey of childhood leukemia

Strange as it sounds, when Brittney Hovater made an appointment last year with her primary care provider, CRNP Melanie Malone, that visit to Malone’s Russellville office probably saved the life of her then two-year-old son Briar.

With September designated as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Hovater looks back at that day and reflects on how it changed not only Briar’s life, but the lives of her entire family, and how the outpouring of love from the community has given them strength through their difficult journey.

“I had a sinus infection and Melanie Malone is who I saw at the time, so when I went to her office, Briar went with me,” Hovater said. “As soon as Melanie walks into the room, she said ‘Brittney, he is super pale,’ and she suggested I make an appointment to have his blood checked.”
Hovater scheduled an appointment for Briar at Quad Cities Pediatrics, where a blood screen showed his red blood cell count to be alarmingly low. Immediately, she knew something serious was going on with her young son’s health.

By the next day, Briar had been admitted to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, by way of Helen Keller Hospital.

“They did all kinds of tests at Helen Keller, but really didn’t tell us anything except they needed to transfer him to Childen’s Hospital immediately,” Hovater said.

After another round of testing, Hovater and her husband Brady finally got an answer to what was wrong with their young son. Just two days after her sinus infection appointment, doctors in Birmingham explained that Briar had leukemia, more specifically, B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or B-ALL as it’s abbreviated.

The diagnosis was shocking and one no parent is ever prepared to hear. But that dark cloud had at least one silver lining.

“They said there are two types of leukemia and he had the B-cell. They explained that obviously you don’t want a diagnosis of leukemia at all, but if you get it, the B-cell is the type you want,” Hovater said. “The other is much more difficult to treat.

“So we took all that in. The whole family was there that day. April 30, 2025, was a day I’ll always remember,” she added.

For Brittney, that began four days of constant grief and tears. As her mind raced through a whirlwind of emotions, it was actually two-year-old Briar whose words got her back on a productive course.

“You just don’t realize the diagnosis when they first tell you. You immediately think it’s the end of the world. I was bawling for four days straight,” Hovater said.

Briar saw the sadness and tears flowing nonstop from his mother’s eyes. And even though his plight was the cause of her despair, Briar did a remarkably mature thing for a child who hadn’t even experienced his third birthday 

“Briar looked up at me and said, ‘Mama, it’s okay, don’t cry.’ He was the brave one. That’s something I think back on and it was a lot for him to say that and it gave me some peace when I really needed it,” Hovater said.

After that day, grieving mom became studious mom, as Brittney did her own extensive research to gain an understanding of Briar’s condition.

She learned there were medicines and treatment available and that leukemia treatment is done in phases. If all continues to go well, it will amount to about 2 1/2 years of treatment from diagnosis through induction therapy, preventive treatment, consolidation/intensification and finally, maintenance therapy, where Briar’s treatment now falls.

If there aren’t any complications or infections, Briar’s visits to Children’s Hospital will be down to one per month, when he receives an antibiotic to prevent him from contracting pneumonia due to his having a port.

Maintenance is expected to continue until July 2027, six months after Briar’s fourth birthday.

And Hovater continues to read, research and study new findings and treatments so she and Brady know and understand everything Briar is going through so he can receive the best available care.

“I had to become a pro at it. I don’t even go by the chart anymore because all this is programmed in my head as second nature. And I know Briar has to do all this in order to get better,” Hovater said.

Less than 18 months after her son was diagnosed, Hovater now wants to help other families going through similar situations. She considers herself blessed and she’s seen the Lord’s hand in her young son’s life, even before he was born.

”One way I know the Lord is working behind the scenes is because when I got pregnant with Briar, I was working in the lunchroom at Tharptown School. I had him in January and my husband encouraged me to go ahead and quit to be a stay-at-home mom,” Hovater said.

With the danger of contracting pneumonia or other infections still heightened, Briar remains very limited with activities, so her being available every day to care for him was a blessing.

Many of the staples of young lives, including birthday parties, Chuck-E-Cheese visits, ballgames and more, are things Briar’s health doesn’t yet allow for.

But once again that dark cloud has a silver lining in that her son doesn’t really understand what he’s going through or what he’s missing.
”Briar knows what his port is. He can tell you about that. He understands when we get in the car early in the morning that we’re going to Birmingham. He knows now what’s going on, but still doesn’t understand he has anything wrong with him,” Hovater said. “He doesn’t know how much he’s having to miss out on because he was so young when he was diagnosed.

Briar’s compromised immunity system simply doesn’t allow exposure to anyone with a cold, flu or other infection. It can create a dangerous drop in his neutrophil count, the number of infection-fighting white blood cells.

Briar recently contracted Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and his neutrophil count dropped to around 30. Doctors want to see a count in the range of 1,200. As he heals from RSV, that count will go back up but his contact with others while that’s happening must be extremely limited.

His daily chemotherapy pill regimen was suspended until his neutrophil count was restored. And that chemo treatment is critical to eliminate the chance of the leukemia returning.

In the meantime, Briar looks, speaks and acts like a typical three-year-old.

“When you see him just running around, fighting through this, you’d never even know he was sick, other than his pale skin,” Hovater said. “He can’t be in sunlight, so right now, it’s running up and down the hall chasing daddy.

“And seeing him run around, playing, singing, dancing and Briar telling me ‘mama, it’s okay,’ when he sees me down—that’s enough for me to never complain. He’s doing well and he’s rocking it. Seeing him so brave almost brings me to tears. He’s so young and has had to fight his entire life, so he’s truly an inspiration,” she added.

Through the treatment process at Children’s Hospital, Briar and his family have gotten very close to other children and their families experiencing similar battles. Four months ago, Briar lost his best friend. The young child had T-cell lymphoma, contracted pneumonia and lost his life.

The ‘P-word’ remains the biggest fear for leukemia patients, particularly children.

“You can’t really just take the pneumonia out of a child’s lungs. You just put medicine there and if the medicine doesn’t work, that’s it,” Hovater said.

Since Briar’s diagnosis, the Hovater family has learned just how much love exists in Franklin County, as families from across the county, and the surrounding Shoals area, have prayed for Briar, worn #BraveLikeBriar shirts, checked on his family, helped financially, brought gifts, shared his story and they serve as a daily reminder the Hovaters are not walking this difficult road alone.

“There truly aren’t enough words to describe what that has meant to our family. Childhood cancer can make your world feel incredibly small and frightening, but our community has surrounded Briar with so much love that even during some of our darkest days, we have been reminded of how blessed we are,” Hovater said.

With a 17-year-old daughter, Addie, a senior at Tharptown High School, the Hovaters knew they couldn’t ask her to put her life on hold at the age of 16, when her brother was diagnosed.

So they arranged for Addie to stay with some family so she could maximize her best high school experience possible.

“She had just turned 16 and what 16-year-old doesn’t want to go places with their friends, or go to church or school events,” Hovater said. “And we could not ask her to give that up, so we had to do some changing of family dynamics.”

Throughout September, ‘going gold’ is the theme of bringing attention and awareness to childhood cancer, but as Brittney explains, it’s about much more than just wearing a gold ribbon.

“Behind every gold ribbon is a child, a family and a story that deserves to be seen and heard,” Hovater said. “‘Going gold’ is about letting these parents and families know we understand what they’re going through. I would not wish this on anybody, but I want others to know there are people every day in our community in the midst of this battle.

“I didn’t want this to turn into a pity situation. We don’t need pity. These families don’t need pity. They need prayers. I really decided to share our story not just for families going through leukemia, but any kind of battle. We have God, prayers, community support, and we’ve been surrounded by people lifting us up.

“If not for them, I don’t know how we’d make it through this. The Franklin County community has always taken care of us and swooped in when they know we needed help. And that says a lot about a tiny community like Tharptown and a place like Franklin County,” Hovater said.

You can follow how Briar’s treatment is progressing and see a first-hand look at the Hovater family’s journey through a Facebook page Brittney maintains. Put #BraveLikeBriar into your search bar on Facebook to navigate to it.

To learn more about Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and support resources available for families, visit www.stjude.org.