Our Daughter's Story

Our daughter, Kayleigh, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on August 20, 2010.  We had no idea that this is what was wrong with her when I took her to the doctor for what seemed to be unrelated symptoms.  I took her to the doctor in early August because she had complained about severe pain in the back of her left leg which was also accompanied by a slight fever.  While at the doctor's office, I noticed excessive bruising on her shins and also asked about this.  This visit didn't result in much, a strained hamstring, unrelated virus, and kid-likely bruises.  The pain, fever, and bruises all disappeared in their own time. 

The severe leg pain and slight fever came back once again on August 19th.  This time these symptoms were accompanied by abdomen pain and bruising on Kayleigh's arms.  The doctor decided to side with caution and send Kayleigh for labs and an x-ray.  Her appointment was at 10 AM.  By 3:30, we knew the x-ray was fine, which we were relieved by.  At 5:00, the phone rang again...with news I thought I would never have to hear.  It was the doctor's voice this time.  As she began to go over the results, I had no idea what many of the terms (hemoglobin, hemotacrit, platelets) meant but knew by her saying "very low" after each one, the results weren't good.  Then she told me "and they found blasts".  I could hear nervousness and sorrow in the doctor's voice.  I said, "Blasts, what are blasts?"  The doctor proceeded to tell me that they are cancer cells and that Kayleigh likely has a form of Leukemia.  I was then asked how soon we could get her to Children's Emergency to be admitted and that she would then be sent up to the Hematology, Oncology floor.  My words, "Are you serious?  I can't believe this!", among many others and sobs of fear, sadness, anger, and disbelief.  At the time I received the call, I was the only one home with our three little girls.  I had to pull myself together, make many phone calls, pull things together for an unexpected hospital stay not knowing how long it would be, and prepare our family for the beginning of a long unwanted journey.

Kayleigh was just getting out of the shower and I calmly dried her hair, then took her into her bedroom and asked her to help me get an overnight bag together.  When she asked me why, I simply told her that we needed to go stay at the hospital that night for further testing because the doctors thought her blood was sick.  Of course she was terrified, as we all were but trying not to show it.

And so our journey began...  We arrived at the hospital, she was admitted, soon after sent upstairs, and began an unknown evening of tests.  Kayleigh had a bone marrow aspiration on Saturday morning and by the afternoon, we knew which type of Leukemia she had.  We were pleased to know that she has one of the more curable types with a cure rate of 90% or greater.  By Sunday afternoon, she had a port implanted, lumbar puncture with chemo injection, and her first chemo treatment through her port.  What a whirlwind!  Everything happened so quickly, but we are truly grateful that the doctors were on top of her disease right away.

Kayleigh spent almost the entire week in the hospital.  She had a few side effects that kept her in longer than expected.  The port site chemo made her jaw hurt horribly, she couldn't hardly eat for days and was fed intravenously.  The lumbar puncture made her lower back hurt so bad that she couldn't raise herself up straight and had difficulty walking.  Within the time frame we spent at the hospital, our family was visited by all kinds of people...family, friends, doctors, nurses, a dietitian, a pharmacy rep, a social worker, a psychologist, and the list goes on.  Again, it was such a whirlwind, a nightmare, a week in the fog.

Kayleigh and our family have come to terms with her diagnosis.  We have a very long journey ahead of us, as she will have ongoing treatment throughout the next two years.  She will have good days and not-so-good days, as we all will.  We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family members around us.  We rely on our prayers and those of others, as we know that God is a key player in Kayleigh's progress and will be by her side every step of the way.  So with that said, we thank you all in advance for your continued positive thoughts and prayers as Kayleigh battles and overcomes her cancer.