At her 4-year-old birthday party in March, Blakely Boyle couldn't blow out her candles.
As little siblings do, one eagerly swooped in to blow them out for her, so her parents didn't think much of it in the moment.
Two days later, Blakely was diagnosed with cancer. For the past seven months, Blakely has been courageously battling T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma.
She still has a long way to go, but the good news is she's kicking its butt. Her tumor is gone, and her nuclear PET scans, which test the function of organs and tissues, are clean.
On Sunday, the family will celebrate at M&T Bank Stadium, as Blakely will be the Ravens' honorary captain for their "Crucial Catch" game against the Los Angeles Rams. She'll be joined by her parents, Kristina and Ravens Legend Nick Boyle.
Nick made 121 catches over his eight-year Ravens career spanning from 2015-2022, but none were more clutch than the one Kristina and he made earlier this year.
There were very subtle signs. On her birthday, Blakely didn't eat her favorite meal, spaghetti and meatballs. The day after, Kristina noticed some swelling in her daughter's left chest area, so she made her schedule an appointment with their pediatrician.
The pediatrician thought it was a lipoma, a benign tumor made up of fat cells. Nothing to worry about, they said. But Kristina, who has a bachelor's degree in nursing, urged them to do an ultrasound.
"I'm no doctor here, and I'm not trying to offend anybody, but I do have some sort of medical background. And to me, this lump overnight with all these other symptoms just doesn't add up," Kristina told them.
The pediatrician put in a referral to get an ultrasound sometime in the next month or two. Luckily, there was a cancellation two days later, and the Boyles hopped on it. Before she had even finished the ultrasound, the technician left the room.
"I was just looking at her face, and I knew it was not good," Kristina said. "Right away, our pediatrician called us and said, 'Yeah, this is not a lipoma. I was wrong. You need to go right to the hospital.'"
They went to Morristown Medical Center in northern New Jersey and sat in the emergency room for a while, then on a bed in a hallway. Maybe this wasn't so urgent after all? After two or three hours of testing, however, they were led to a room with superheroes on the wall.
"I was shaking walking in there and Nick just immediately started crying," Kristina said.
It was there that a doctor told them Blakely had cancer with a tumor the size of a baseball. The tumor was touching her heart and pushing on her trachea (the windpipe), which led to a buildup of fluid and totally collapsed her left lung. No wonder she couldn't blow out the birthday candles.
They took a two-hour ambulance ride in the middle of the night to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and went straight into surgery to put in a chest tube and then the intensive care unit, where they spent their first of two weeks in the hospital.
"The craziest thing is like her symptoms were so mild," Kristina said. "Of course, in hindsight, like you see little things like tiredness, which, she's 4. Kids get tired. Night sweats she had. But, again, we just thought she was hot. She always ran hot."
Blakely got five rounds of chemotherapy in Philadelphia. Now she receives treatment closer to home, and it's one to four days a week. This week, it's four. And yet, somehow, Blakely will still be strong enough to cheer on the Ravens Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.
The family used to take a photo holding up fingers to identify which treatment she had just conquered, but there were so many that they lost count (and fingers). She'll have to get treatment for two years to lower the chances that her cancer will return. She'll ring the bell in June of 2027.
Her hair has fallen out, which the Barbie-loving girl doesn't like. When she's on steroid treatment, she eats like a football player, including shrimp and her favorite spaghetti and meatballs — for breakfast. Other days, she has no appetite at all. She yearns to go to pre-kindergarten every day like other kids.
But overall, Blakely is handling it extremely well, and so are her parents. The Boyles have four children, ages 5, 4 (Blakely), 3, and 1. Along with the help of Nick's mother, they tag-team taking care of the other three kids and tending to Blakely's needs.
They're surely exhausted, but thankful.
"All of the little problems that I used to get mad at or angry over, nothing really mattered at that point," Nick said of the moment when Blakely was diagnosed. "You kind of get a shell shock and remember what really matters in life. It puts everything in perspective.
"It's a hard thing to swallow and understand, but I think we have a good handle on it now. It's our lifestyle now. I couldn't imagine her life without it, because we're so used to running around and doing all this stuff. I thought I had no time playing football. Geez, if I went back to football, it would be like a vacation."
Nick was a bruising blocker and one of the Ravens' most respected tough guys during his tenure. His career changed when he suffered a devastating knee injury on a rainy night in New England on Nov. 15, 2020. A hit from a Patriots linebacker bent his leg backward, tearing his MCL, PCL, and meniscus. His hamstring tore off the bone and he suffered a small fracture.
After multiple surgeries and a lengthy rehabilitation process, Boyle played two more seasons and 17 more games for the Ravens. He made one more reception. Add one more catch for Blakely.
So, who's tougher, Nick or Blakely?
"Definitely Blakely," Kristina said without hesitation. "Let's say that Blakely has shed less tears than Nick through all of this. That's a fact."
"She's way freakin' tougher," Nick confirmed with a laugh. "She's very tough for how quiet she is. She's just awesome, persevering. Any young kid going through this, I don't even [understand]. I just know what she's gone through. It's pretty remarkable what kids can do and how resilient they are."
As part of the "Crucial Catch" initiative, Nick and Kristina want to encourage parents to be strong advocates for their children's health. It saved Blakely.
"You know your kids best. You need to trust your motherly instincts and your fatherly instincts," Kristina said. "It doesn't matter what degree you have. They can be a world-renowned doctor, but they're not with your kids every day. It's just so important for parents to listen to their guts."
