June 18th, 1999. What a wonderful day! Our son
Keegan was born. It took over a year to get pregnant with Keegan; he was
like our miracle baby. His 2 big sisters, Amanda and Ariel just loved him.
Keegan was a sickly child from the beginning because of a milk allergy that
we didn’t know about. He had a 3 day stay at Children’s when he was about 3
months old for an “unknown” cause. And countless ER visits for allergic
reactions. I know now it was from the milk based formula I had given him.
Normally he nursed, but sometimes I would give him a bottle. Maybe once a
month. Only 18 months after his birth came his little brother Liam. They
have been the best of friends ever since.
At the end of February of 2003, things started to get different for our
family. Keegan had been getting sick off and on for about 2 months. He
wouldn’t walk because his legs hurt so badly. He would cry horribly if we
didn’t pick him up. He started to get very clingy to me and his older sister
Amanda. He wouldn't sleep anywhere except with Amanda in her bed. He started
bruising. He had fevers all the time. He even once told me “Mommy, I’m
dying”. This statement scared me.
I had taken him to the doctor several times, and they just told me it was a
virus. I even asked for a blood test, and they just told me he would be
fine, it was just a virus. And then on May 9th, 2003, after battling a week
long fever, Keegan, who could barely even walk anymore, woke up and ran
strait into the bathroom to get sick. I decided to take him in to the
doctor; I figured he must need antibiotics. He probably just has an ear
infection. It must just be a virus. How I held on to that word. Deep down, I
knew something was wrong. The doctor saw how pale Keegan was and immediately
ordered Keegan’s first of many blood tests. He came out 5 minutes later and
told us to get to Children’s Hospital right away. Keegan’s counts were low
and he would need a transfusion. I was in denial. But I knew.
At Children’s they ordered more blood tests. Then about 2 hours later, our
doctor came in with some nurses. The nurses distracted Keegan and the doctor
said to Mike, (Keegan’s dad) and me, “It’s looking like Leukemia.”. I cannot
describe the feeling of despair we felt at that moment. It was horrible.
That moment replays in my head over and over again. All I could hear from
that doctor was, “Keegan might die”. It had never crossed my mind that my
children could get cancer. I never thought I would have to hold one of my
children down while someone stuck a needle in his chest. This just wasn’t
real. I figured I must be having a nightmare. Some “virus”.
Things happened pretty fast after that. Keegan was admitted and given his
first dose of chemotherapy. He had surgery to put in a port, and he had
several blood transfusions. The worst part of all of this was watching our
baby be so sick, and in so much pain and not being able to do anything about
it. All we could do for him was hold him and tell him that we’re sorry. I
prayed to God to please take this away from my son and give it to me.
Keegan was about to finish his treatment on July 7, 2007. However in
November 2006, while he was having a routine spinal tap, they found some
leukemia cells. There weren’t enough bad cells yet to call it a relapse so
he got spinal taps every month until on January 30, 2007 there was enough.
He had relapsed. This past year has been a completely fuzzy place for all of
us. It’s almost as if we are still stuck on that day we heard of the
relapse. Keegan now has to endure 2 extra years of chemotherapy on top of
the 3 he has already had. So far, his body has responded wonderfully and we
have had no major setbacks. Thanks to God! We can only pray that God
continue to protect his body from the chemo and kill the cancer. We also
pray that the other 3 kids get through this. It has been hard on them this
last year with Keegan and me in the hospital so much. Keegan has had 18 or
so hospital stays in the past year. The first 3 years he had a total of 4.
As you can see, this time around it is much rougher. We are so thankful
though that he does NOT need a transplant as of now. The chemo should do the
trick.
Keegan’s daddy, Mike wrote this poem when Keegan relapsed…we would like to
share it with you.
We've come this far
To a line in the sand
We've braved our fears
While hand in hand
Our son, A gift
From God above
Needs our light,
Our Strength,
Our Love
We'll see him through
With Gods good grace
In our hearts
A prayer
A place
Our Love For You Son
By: Mike P.
We have been blessed with 4 beautiful children, one of them just happens to
have cancer. And with God’s help, we will get through this.
Siblings:
sister Amanda, age 17
sister Ariel, age 15
brother Liam, age 7
Child's Interests:
Keegan loves "guys" (action figures), airplanes, cars, SpongeBob, Power
Rangers, Spiderman. His favorite color is red. Keegan spends a lot of time
drawing pictures, he loves to draw. So he likes pens, pencils, and paper. He
likes pens the most. Keegan loves McDonalds and we go there whenever he goes
to the clinic for treatment, so McDonalds gift certificates would be good
also. Since he is homebound for school until he is well, 2nd grade reading
books would be great. He loves scary stories.
Sibling's Interests:
Amanda likes all teenager stuff, green frogs, candles, earrings, Johnny Depp
(everything about him) and hair accessories. She is driving now and starting
a collection of key chains. Her favorite color is green.
Ariel likes science fiction fantasy books, (like Lemony Snicket, Harry
Potter, etc...) and lipgloss. Her favorite colors are red. She also loves
cats and Orlando Bloom.
Both girls love nail polish stuff.
Liam likes everything his brother Keegan likes, but he is obsessed with the
color green, he has to have all the green stuff! He likes brown a lot too,
but green is his favorite! I would say his favorite action figure is
Superman.
Click
HERE
for recent updates on Keegan (use the "Search" box on the sidebar of that page
to find updates on this particular child)
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