Henry's Story
written by mom Monica
When Henry (his nickname used to be Kiki, but
he likes to be called Henry now, even though mommy still calls him Kiki, lol) was born, it was one of the
happiest days of our lives. He was the first boy to be born into our family.
Our family had all girls. So everyone was so happy to have a boy finally.
When he was born he was jaundice, but they did tests and everything was
fine.
He grew up to be a very healthy and happy baby. He broke his arm when he was
1. But other than that I had no problems with him. When he turned 5, his
sister Stephanie was born. It was then I noticed that he was getting kind of
chubby. From that day it just kept getting worse. But we thought he would
grow out of it. In December of 2003, Christmas Eve, Henry was
complaining that his back was hurting but we thought he just slept wrong. We
went on our Christmas trip to Arizona to visit his grandparents and the
whole time we were there he was just in pain and didn't enjoy Christmas at
all.
In January 2004, I had taken him to the doctor about half a dozen times.
When the pain finally reached his ankle, that is when the doctor sent him to
the hospital for tests. That day was the worse day of our lives. His doctor
told us he had cancer and it was called Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). It
turned out to be Type B, which was a good chance of curing his cancer. I was
in shock, more shock than sadness and I just asked the doctor what do we
needed to do to fight this. Henry went through chemotherapy for 6 months. He
did very well during his treatments and only had to go to the hospital a few
times with fevers. He also had to go through spinal tap procedures, which
checks his blood to see if cancer has come back or not.
Henry went into remission in August of 2004, still undergoing chemotherapy
treatments and spinal tap procedures. In January of 2005 he
relapsed. They found a large amount of white blood cells in his spine. He
went through more chemo and cranial and spinal radiation. He went into remission
again, but still had
chemotherapy for a long time. He
had no appetite and vomited a lot more.
He hated the smell of foods and different things. Henry is a very quiet and shy
person, and tried hard not to complain much about any of this. We tried to make him
as happy as possible. We were heartbroken that he had to go through this and
I apologized to him everyday. I just reminded him that he had to stay strong
and have faith.
In the Fall of 2007, Henry graduated from 5th grade and started middle
school. He stopped chemo treatments at the end of July 2007. He had been
doing really well. A week before Christmas his back was hurting really bad
so I took him to the doctor and she gave him some pain pills thinking he
hurt his back somehow. Well the back pain did not go away. They decided to
admit Henry to the hospital and do a bone marrow aspiration and spinal tap.
The spinal tap came back clear but the bone marrow looked suspicious.
The
next day the doctor pulled me into another room and said yes that the
leukemia was back in his bone marrow. We were just devastated to say the
least. Henry especially. He has been going through this for 3½ years and
he thought he finally had won and to have the cancer come back... pure
frustration.
Henry was able to go home for Christmas. A week later on New
Year's Eve, Henry woke up and could not breathe well. I called his dad and he
came to pick him up and take him to the clinic. He almost passed out there.
They immediately admitted him to the hospital. At the hospital his vital
signs were not good. He got a really bad virus and we were scared. He
pulled through but we have been in the hospital ever since because he has a
very bad skin disorder the doctors don't know what it is yet. His stomach is
all red and puffy and his legs too. He has a lot of fluid in his body that is now
just starting to drain from his body.
It's been really tough for him being in the hospital for so long now. He hasn't
even been outside. Please pray for my son, he needs all he can get right
now.
Abilities:
See: Yes.
Hear: Yes.
Talk: Yes.
Walk: Yes.
Read: Yes.
Use hands: Yes.
Siblings:
sister Stephanie, age 7
half brother Sebastian, 10 months old
baby due June 2008
Child's Interests:
Henry likes to collect DVD's. He also likes his PSP, and his Nintendo DS. He
also likes to draw and sketch which he is very good at. He likes to draw
comic book characters. His favorite show is still the Simpsons. His favorite
NFL teams are the San Diego Chargers and the Tennessee Titans. His favorite
baseball team is the San Diego Padres.
Sibling's Interests:
Stephanie loves to sing. She likes Hannah Montana and High School Musical.
She also likes to read.
Sebastian does not live with us, but likes anything for his age.
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HERE
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