Love Heals Gage

One of the reasons I decided to walk a half marathon and help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is because I have a fear...

I fear that one day someone close to my heart will be diagnosed with a fatal disease and there will be nothing we can do about it, but hope and pray that modern medicine is advanced enough to treat it.

I don't think that is a completely unfounded fear when every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer* and every 10 minutes someone dies from a blood cancer.*  In 2010, about 447 children 15 years old and younger were expected to die from leukemia.**

I believe that with my help right now and with the help of thousands of other volunteers and donators these numbers can only go down.  I believe by simply walking 13.1 miles, by raising at least $3000, and by asking you to do the same, we can find a cure for a disease that has stolen thousands of lives.

I believe that if I help save someone today, if it becomes necessary in the future, someone will want to help save my loved ones.

Right now it is estimated that there are 957, 902 people living in the United States with or in remission from leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, NHL, or myeloma.**  These people are not just statistics.  They are real and they're closer than you think.  Some of them are right here in our blog world.  I want to introduce you to them.

Today's guest blogger is Lisa from Love Heals Gage.  Lisa's son Gage was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at 14 months old.  This is their story...

On Finding Out My Baby Has Leukemia

There is nothing I like better than shopping with my best friends, and I was lucky enough to be spending the day shopping with one of the Besties. Little did I know by the end of the day all of our lives would be changed forever.

That morning I woke up and Gage was acting not like his normal self, he was behaving kind of cranky with a low-grade fever, which I attributed to teething; so I gave him some Tylenol and off to IKEA we went. After arriving at the store we decided to grab a bite to eat at the yummy café, but Gage was still out of it didn’t want to have anything to do with food or drink, he did nap a lot; that alone should have told me something was up.

By the time we left IKEA, I just was not happy with the way Gage was looking and acting so I decided to stop by my work, which just happens to be in the same medical office building his pediatrician is. My logic being if there is something wrong they will give him antibiotics and send us on our way, or if there was nothing wrong at least all of my co-workers would get to see Gage; they love that.

Of course everybody was so happy to see Gage, he is such a happy, chubby baby and he lets anybody hold him or pet him. Since we were a “walk in” and our pediatrician was out we saw Dr. C, and after giving Gage a quick look over, ears, eyes, mouth and chest he determined he was fine and it was probably just teething. Before he could walk out of the room though I mentioned he had an “odd rash” on his bottom and would he mind checking that out, please.

Petechiae, that’s what he told me it was. The definition of petechiae is red or purple spot on the body, caused by a minor hemorrhage (broken capillary, blood vessels). Oooookay…what does that mean??? The Doctor looked very concerned and so he had blood work rushed, and started him on double antibiotic shots in the legs, they also tried to put a catheter in him, but Gage was not having it so they “bagged” him instead (they put a bag around his boy parts, to catch any urine, for a sample.)

Thank GOD, the Bestie was with me that day, I don’t know what I would have done if I was by my self. So after about twenty minutes the Doctor came back in the room and told us that, Gage was sick and that he’d already booked us at a room in the hospital and get down there for more tests.

I immediately called the Hubs, trying not to sound as panicked as I felt ”Hey, we’re going to the Hospital, the Doctor didn’t say anything only we’d be there a couple of days, take your time come after work, should be no big deal.” I couldn’t have been anymore wrong.

So after my mild panic attack at the clinic, we arrived at the hospital fourth floor, room 4111. I don’t think I will ever forget that room number.

After getting admitted, it was nice they came to us, no pesky waiting. It was all kind of surreal, they brought the Bestie, Gage and I food, and it was good! I don’t know what was more surprising the food being good or the fact we were at the hospital, for some unknown reason.

Finally after what felt like hours, but in hindsight was probably only thirty minutes, a pretty young doctor came in, we’ll call her Doctor B, she sat down and my world fell apart.

“Well, just from looking at the blood samples, I can tell you that it looks like leukemia-” at this point I have to interrupted the good Doctor B by asking the Bestie “Please remember everything she says, I may be nodding, but as soon as she says anything I panic attack it right out of my brain;” oh f*ck oh f*ck oh f*ck this cannot be happening.

Doctor B, continued “from what I can see, Gage has leukemia, but with more blood work will be able to determine which type and how advanced; we should have all that information on Friday.” As I dumbly sat there and just nodded, and saying stupid sh*t like “ok, Friday, ok” the Bestie asked relevant questions that I’m sure the Hubs and the rest of the family would want answers to. I don’t remember what she asked all I know, is I relied on her to answer any questions the family had, and she did; thank God for her.

As soon as the Doctor left, I got on the phone with the Hubs, “Gage has leukemia, OMG OMG OMG Gage has leukemia!” I sobbed uncontrollably into the phone, with the help if the Bestie I was able to answer as many of the questions he had.

That was August 2, 2010 the day we learned our fourteen-month-old son, was diagnosed with leukemia.

*ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR http://www.lovehealsgage.com/ By Lisa J. Churchill

It has been 6 months since Gage was diagnosed with leukemia.  He continues to undergo treatments on a daily basis.  Over the last 40 years the survival rate of children with leukemia has gone up almost 80%.** With our help Gage can live a long and fulfilling life cancer free. 
 
While writing this post, 17 people were diagnosed with a blood cancer and 7 people died from a blood cancer.
 
Help Gage and hundreds of children diagnosed with a blood cancer by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Help save those 17 patients and help keep the next 7 families from losing a loved one.  Our time and our money today can save the lives of thousands tomorrow.

*LLS Facts & Statistics
**LLS Facts 2010-2011