Ashton

Our son Ashton was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on March 24, 2010. He had just turned 3 in February. He began not feeling so well in February and because all of his symptoms were common symptoms of a winter illness, often passed along in Ashton’s age group, it was less apparent of what he was suffering from. 

He went through 2 full cycles of antibiotics, had sporadic fevers, was waking at night crying and couldn’t quite explain what was wrong. It was the look in his eyes and the waking at night that triggered me to want to know more. I began to research his symptoms and many of them were of Leukemia. We went back to the pediatrician and I specifically requested blood tests. 

A few days later, we were sent to visit the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Clinic. The building it is in is connected to the UK Hospital. This day was March 24, 2010 and the day that he was diagnosed with ALL. The worst day of my life and I pray that this day remains, the worst day of my life.
When arriving here, we took a simple blood test that revealed that Ashton did appear to have Leukemia cells in his blood. So in order to confirm this we had to give a bone marrow sample, a sample of his spinal fluid, and they would go ahead and administer chemotherapy into his spinal fluid via spinal tap. 
I was in fear and sick to my stomach. But my fears could not even touch the fears that Ashton was having with all of the needle pokes, doctors, nurses, and being put to sleep for procedures. So it was my goal to try not to let my fears overcome him. So I hid my tears and put on big smiles for him. The cure rate for his type of Leukemia is 80%, failure is never an option. 

For the first 6 months we had to go through several different phases of intense treatments, with many different forms of chemotherapy. The day after diagnosis he went into surgery to have a port-a-cath surgically inserted into his chest, right above his heart. This scared me to all get out, but since we have learned that, Charlie as all of the children at the clinic call it, has been a complete pain saver. We use it for anything that we would need via IV and to give/receive blood. Because we can numb it and it is already placed directly on the vein, there is no pain and no looking for a vein. 
I would never be able to tell you exactly how many doctor’s appointments that we have attended, as there have been many. As far as chemotherapy treatments, he takes chemo every single night orally, he will have to do this until May 25, 2013. He can swallow pills, which was something he learned to do a few months after diagnosis. 

A “typical” week for us consist of a Tuesday visit to the hem/onc clinic to have a simple blood test run. This test is just to say where all of his blood counts are at. Since the chemo’s main goal is to kill the Leukemia cells, it also kills the good blood cells. Because of this we have to keep a close eye on his infection fighting cells. All 5 types of white blood cells are to help fight things off, but we keep a particularly close look on his Neutrophils. We refer to these results as our ANC’s (absolute Neutrophil Count). The Neutrophils are usually the fast responder to infection fighting cells. When our ANC’s are low, we are very susceptible to infections; Infections that would not typically arise in someone without a suppressed immune system. 

Relapse and infections are our biggest fears. Although the cure rate is very high for his form of Leukemia, so is the relapse rate. If he were to relapse, which we pray will never happen, he would have to begin a much more intense chemotherapy regimen and would be recommended for a bone marrow transplant. This is a very dangerous procedure. 

Infections are often what takes the life of people on chemotherapy, because their bodies immune system cannot fight them off and they just take over the body. If Ashton were to begin to run a fever of 100.5 or more, we have to automatically be admitted into the Kentucky Children’s Hospital for at least 48 hours of observation and IV antibiotics. This is to make sure that there are not any infections brewing throughout his body. 
I know this sounds like a lot and it is, but it just becomes natural to your daily living. You do what you have to do for your children. Ashton has done absolutely amazing, he is such a silly little man. Chemotherapy doesn’t get our baby down. 

The University of Kentucky has been our life saver. All of the people involved in his treatment, we are forever grateful to. We have met so many wonderful people during our journey with Leukemia. You really can make a difference in a child’s life and don’t always have to be a doctor or a nurse to do so.

We never actually realized how fragile life is until we discovered that our baby had cancer. From that day on, we began living. God has blessed our son and our family with hope. With this hope, faith, and strength Ashton is beating cancer and changing the lives of many along his way.

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