Make A Child Smile

Danielle's Story
written by mom Keli

Danielle was born on January 13th, 2002. She was our first child and the joy of our lives. She weighed 9 lbs. 1 ounce and was the first grandchild to be born of my parents. She was perfect! Danielle had colic the first year of her life and she cried almost non-stop until she was close to 9 months. It was a long 9 months, but we got through it and Danielle continued to brighten our days and she added more love to our lives than we ever thought was possible.

In October 2004, Danielle's pediatrician detected a heart murmur and referred her to a cardiologist to get an official diagnosis. The cardiologist performed some tests and determined that her heart was ok, but he did detect two bruits in her neck, which were causing excess blood to be pumped into her head. He then referred us to a neurologist. The neurologist wanted to perform an MRI on her to determine the cause of the bruits, but was concerned that she may have anemia and wanted to be sure before scheduling the procedure. She ordered a CBC and not an hour after Danielle's blood was drawn we were called and told to come back to the hospital as soon as possible because her blood counts were dangerously off. We had no indication that anything was wrong with Danielle. Many people told us that she was pale, but we just thought that she had fair skin like her grandmother and didn't think much about it.

November 1st, 2004, is a day we will never forget, it was a day that changed our lives forever. Our precious little girl was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, also known as ALL. I can still hear the words that the doctor told us in my head as if it happened yesterday. She was admitted immediately to Children’s Hospital where we stayed for a week. In that week Danielle underwent surgery, a bone marrow aspiration, a spinal, daily blood work and she started chemotherapy.

Danielle endured over 2 years of treatment which ended December 28th, 2006. She will continue to be examined and have blood drawn monthly at Children’s Hospital for the first year and then she will go to every three months, then every six months until we hit once a year. If Danielle remains cancer free for these first 6 months off treatment, she will undergo surgery to have the med-port removed from her chest. Her immune system will not fully recover for one year and she will still be admitted for fevers over 101.

Since Danielle’s diagnosis, she has received 6 blood transfusions, 6 bags of platelets, 4 bone marrow aspirates, 17 spinals, 11 shots of chemo, countless port accesses to draw blood and inject chemo and has taken many, many chemo tablets at home (I do not have an exact count just yet).

It has been a long, tough journey for her, but she has handled it with grace and dignity. She has been so resilient and she doesn’t concentrate on feeling bad, she finds a way to overcome her obstacles and tries to do everything other kids her age do with a smile on her face.

Danielle was recently diagnosed with asthma after enduring a year of what we were told was croup. Since she started her asthma medications we have noticed a definite improvement in her, even though she still has to take frequent breaks when playing.

Having a child with cancer has been a tough adjustment for the whole family. We feel like we are riding an emotional roller coaster and many times we feel tired, both emotionally and physically, we feel frustration and worry at what this disease has done to our little girl and our lives and we feel overwhelmed with decisions that need to be made. We have also encountered a lot of love and support and have met so many wonderful people and for that we are thankful. We have learned to take the bad with the good and we have learned to appreciate each day, good and bad, as a gift. Life is not guaranteed to any of us and I think that is the most important lesson we have learned along our journey. We try to appreciate the little things and look at each day with a positive outlook.

Abilities:

See: Yes.
Hear: Yes.
Talk: Yes.
Walk: Yes.
Read: Not yet.
Use hands: Yes.

Siblings:
brother Alex, age 4
sister Ashli, age 2

Child's Interests:
Danielle likes Disney Princesses, painting, making beaded jewelry, crafts, playing board games, playing card games (Go Fish and Memory are her favorite), playing with her dollhouse and with Barbies, she loves wearing pretty dresses and having her nails painted and wearing pretty bows in her hair. She is definitely all girl. The frillier the better. Danielle loves and collects musical snow globes. She likes to watch Strawberry Shortcake, Disney Princess movies and Pinky Dinky Doo. She is really looking forward to playing soccer and starting dance class in 2007.

Sibling's Interests:
Alex loves Spiderman and Scooby Doo, playing with cars and throwing balls, he is learning to play card games like Danielle, he loves to paint, color, and have books read to him.

Ashli likes toddler things for now.

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