When Cypress Creek Lakes residents, Melissa and Steven Batchelder met and fell in love at Texas A&M,
they would never have imagined the frightening turn that their lives would take just ten years into their
marriage. As a result of a catastrophic event that would rock their world, the Batchelder family has
earned the respect and gratitude of the Houston medical community.
Melissa was awarded a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s of Science degree at TAMU,
while Steven received a Bachelor’s degree in Finance at TAMU. The couple married in June, 2000, then
moved to Sugar Land to be close to work. After a year of city life, the Batchelder family moved to the
suburbs, eventually landing in Cypress Creek Lakes in 2013.
“I started my career as an auditor for a public accounting firm, then moved to the corporate energy
sector, focusing on accounting, financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting. After our first child came
along, I decided to stay home and be a full-time mom,” explains Melissa.
Steven began working in the energy industry “right out of Texas A&M, in accounting and finance. The
last 10 years of my career have been focused on wholesale transactions, with a primary focus on the
Texas electricity markets. I currently work in wholesale power originating at NRG’s primary office in
downtown Houston,” relates Steven.
The couple’s first child, Laurel, was born in early 2007. Grant was born in early 2010. This is where
Laurel’s journey begins. Melissa shares her account of this painful time in their lives:
“In February 2010, just a few weeks after Laurel's 3rd birthday, and only 8 days after our son Grant was
born, Laurel was complaining of excruciating abdominal pain. After several trips to the pediatrician in an
effort to figure out the cause of her pain, we were sent to Texas Children's Hospital for further testing.
An ultrasound and CT scan revealed a mass approximately the size of a softball invading her abdominal
cavity, with additional spots on her lungs. Biopsy results concluded that the cancer she was facing was
Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma – a rare and aggressive solid tumor, which had metastasized to her
lungs. Over the next 52 weeks, Laurel endured weekly chemotherapy treatments, several weeks of
radiation, and a 10-hour surgery to remove the tumor. At the end of her treatment program in February
2011, her oncologists declared ‘no evidence of disease’, and she has received the same great news at all
of her checkups ever since.
One unfortunate statistic we learned as a result of Laurel's journey was that Pediatric Cancers receive
only a fraction (approximately 4%) of total federal funding for all cancer research. And of the 4% that is
set aside for ALL pediatric cancer, the money for sarcoma research is quite small. Research institutions
like Texas Children's Cancer Center rely heavily on private funding from businesses, individuals and non-
profit foundations to bridge this large funding gap. After witnessing first-hand the incredible patient care
and research being done at TCCC, we knew we wanted to help by creating a foundation to raise money
and spread awareness to help these brave young warriors.
The Laurel's Army Foundation was born in 2013, and with the help of family and friends we started
spreading our message and raising money. Through our two major fundraisers each year and generous
giving of our support network, we've been blessed with continued growth of our efforts, and to date
we've donated over $230,000 to Texas Children's Cancer Center.
Laurel, age 11, is a 5th grader at Warner Elementary. “My favorite subject is science. I play piano, dance
and play golf. I like to do craft projects, hang out with my friends, read, and play with my dog.”
Grant, age 8, is in the 2nd grade at Warner. He enjoys science, and extracurricular activities such as
baseball, basketball, playing guitar and golf. “I also like to ride my bike, play street hockey, drive my
remote-control car, and play with my friends,” says Grant.
Melissa enjoys volunteering at Warner, attending a weekly Bible study class, and shares her family’s love
of sports. Skiing, golf, and coaching youth baseball are high on Steven’s list.
“We are a very close family and enjoy spending time together forging our own traditions,” says Steven.
“We found ourselves at Texas Children's Hospital on Christmas morning in 2010 – Laurel was sick, and it
was Grant's 1st Christmas. It's not where we wanted to be, but we made the most of it and had a special
celebration when we got home a few days later.
Due to her age at the time, Laurel does not remember a lot of the details of her experience. We share
pictures and stories with her, but for the most part it's a distant memory for her. At times we wish she
remembered more, simply so she would better grasp the incredible fight that she put up against that
terrible disease. But some of those memories are tough for even us to re-live. We count it a huge
blessing that she's simply living her life, moving forward and growing up just like the other kids around
her,” concludes Melissa.
