What do you say to a 5-year-old youngster when she has ALL? You retain it easy. For Julie Phillips, this meant telling her daughter, Blakeleigh, that she was sick and could be within the hospital for some time.
As a mom, although, nothing felt easy. She’d introduced her daughter in for prime fevers. To seek out out Blakeleigh had most cancers was “heartbreaking.”
Quick ahead to right this moment, and Julie’s bursts with gratitude for her daughter’s well being. The staff at UVA Well being Youngsters’s made positive that Blakeleigh felt snug and unafraid whereas going by means of therapy. Everybody concerned feels constructive and hopeful that Blakeleigh will get higher and higher. Watch her story for extra.
Julie Phillips: Blakeleigh could be very good. She’s very clever. She’s…. she’s a folks individual. She by no means meets a stranger.
Emily Moses, MD: So I first met Blakeleigh, and she or he was admitted as a result of she was having recurrent fevers, and we could not determine why.
Julie Phillips: So, they’d performed each check underneath the solar. Me and pa each stayed each evening. We by no means left her.
Emily Moses, MD: Our basic pediatrics staff really did a really intensive workup for an an infection. We weren’t actually discovering something, so we went forward and,… the diagnostic factor you do is a bone marrow biopsy to search for these leukemia cells. And we did that.
Julie Phillips: We stayed in right here for two weeks earlier than they discovered that she had the leukemia. We are available right here with excessive fevers and are available out with most cancers… prefer it was… heartbreaking.
Does Your Little one Have Most cancers?
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Emily Moses, MD: So, sufferers who’ve ALL, the leukemia cells, the place it is made within the bone marrow, crowds out the conventional cells which might be made there. So when the bone marrow cannot make these purple blood cells and platelets, then you will have signs of low purple blood cells, so anemia.
Julie Phillips: She was 5, so she actually did not perceive. All, you recognize, let’s imagine was, you recognize,” you are sick and now we have to be on the hospital for some time, and you are going to need to take drugs for some time.” I imply, they make her really feel like she’s secure right here. She, you recognize, she’s not scared to return right here to do her remedies. They… they make it simpler.
Whitney Perdue, RN: It is nice to see Blakeleigh and see her come into clinic and are available over and provides me a hug.
Emily Moses, MD: She is doing very well with therapy. We nonetheless see them month-to-month for the primary yr, and we’ll see her life, life-long.
Whitney Perdue, RN: The truth that she retains coming for lab checks and we do all these follow-ups, that is all a constructive. So it will get much less and fewer that we see her. And that is a very good factor.
Julie Phillips: Hopefully, we solely have 3 extra months left of therapy. We’re praying we get there and…. that’ll be it. her, you wouldn’t know something was fallacious together with her. She’s similar to a standard youngster.