Addison's Story
On Addison’s 5th birthday we noticed a large swollen gland on his neck and after a week of doctors’ appointments and tests we ended up at Children’s in the oncology office talking about Leukemia. Addison was diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia T-cell. This was a high risk Leukemia with a three year treatment plan. Addison underwent bone morrow aspirations, spinal taps, chemotherapy in his spine, IV chemotherapy treatment, blood and platelet transfusions, chemotherapy shots in this thighs, oral chemotherapy, and support medications for the next three and half years. Thanks to St. Jude Children’s’ Hospital all Children’s Hospitals are connected to the Oncology Network that shares information and treatment plans across the country. They are constantly updating this information and improving treatment plans. At one point in Addison’s treatment he was due to have cranial radiation and at the last minute the treatment plan was updated and the radiation was omitted for patients that were showing positive treatment responses like Addison’s.
Addison is currently a happy healthy person. I could not be more grateful for the researchers working day and night at St. Jude to help find a cure to end childhood cancer.
Sarah's Story
Sarah was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. 50% of her Leukemia was AML (an Adult form of Leukemia) and the other 50% was ALL T-cell. Around Sarah’s 4th birthday she started having unexplained fevers and lethargy. I took her to the pediatrician at least once a week for a month. At the end of that month she was diagnosed with viral pneumonia. It was not until I took her to the ER at Children’s Hospital that finally some bloodwork was done. Before I knew it, an oncologist came in to tell me she had leukemia. For the majority of 2 years she was in the hospital. She could not go to school, see friends, have a pet, eat any food from a restaurant, all due to the dangers from bacteria that would undoubtedly cause her to be ill. The only other child she was allowed to be around was her brother. Sarah had 2 bone marrow transplants with bone marrow from her brother Michael who was a 100% match to her. She had a central line in her chest for meds and chemo, received multiple blood transfusions, platelet transfusions and 2 bone marrow transplants. The leukemia she had was so aggressive that after completely knocking out her immune system twice in 2 years and replacing her cells with healthy ones, the cancer could not be stopped. More than 2 years after diagnosis Sarah passed away on 11/17/2006 at the age of 6. Sarah was a beautiful, bright, loving, sassy, spunky little girl who loved her brother so much and would be 26 this year if she had lived. She will always be loved and missed. Although Sarah was not at St. Jude, she benefitted from all the latest research done there which outlined her treatment for the combination of leukemia she had.