Emilio's Story
written by mom Theresa
Emilio came into the world with warning. He
was born emergency C-section to my surprise, but was as healthy as ever. He
has always been such a loving child. A good eater and a good sleeper. He is
the child you can snuggle up with, give hugs and kisses to all day.
As he was growing up, we noticed Emilio was not speaking much. He was found
to have some speech delay and at the age of 3, he started speech therapy at
the public school district. It has helped him tremendously, with his speech
and social development. In the Fall of 2007, he went to preschool and his
speech therapy.
Then our world was turned around... In mid-December 2007, Emilio woke up one
night with severe pain in his abdomen. I knew there was something wrong, but
he had inconsolable crying and pain. We took him to his pediatrician and
were then referred to the local hospital for appendicitis. After numerous
tests they ruled that out and we went home after 3 days there.
Now you must understand, Emilio has never been sick, not even an earache, so
I was startled by all of this. The night we were released he had
inconsolable pain again. So, then we were referred to Hope Christ Hospital
which is a children's hospital and they did more testing. Throughout the
whole time, his hemoglobin kept dropping and he became anemic. It made him
tired, a little pale and irritable. Emilio was sent home in December without
knowing what was wrong.
Christmas came and went and he still went to have lab testing done to watch
his hemoglobin. Then in early January 2008, he went to a doctor called a
hematologist, they found some very abnormal cells in his blood. Being that I
(mom) am a medical technologist, I knew already with the findings in the
peripheral blood what was going on. My heart ached. Emilio had to return for
a bone marrow aspiration which would be diagnostic for Leukemia. The doctors
told us about one hour later that my son had cancer.
Emilio was put in the hospital and started chemotherapy. That is a treatment
with drugs that will kill all the cancer cells in his body. Sometimes the
chemo makes him very sick because it kills the good cells and the bad cells.
He also had surgery for a central line catheter, called a port. This is a
line in a major vein near his heart to which the doctors and nurses have
access to. He will be able to receive medicine, chemotherapy and
transfusions in it. They won't have to poke him so much with this port.
Since diagnosis, Emilio has been hospitalized 3 times, and since December, 5
times total. Most of February he was in the hospital for pain and high
fevers. It was so terrible on the family, like drawing us apart. His sister
took it very hard to be separated from her best friend.
We take one day at a time. I never know what tomorrow will bring. I am told
his treatment plan is three years. During this time he will have to be very
careful also being around sick children because he will have low immunity
and can get sick very easily. It's going to be a long road, a long journey,
but he will get through it. He has his family and I know this cancer will
not win.
Abilities:
See: Yes.
Hear: Yes.
Talk: Yes.
Walk: Yes.
Read: Not yet.
Use hands: Yes.
Siblings:
sister Mireya, age 6
Child's Interests:
Emilio loves anything BLUE! His favorite color! Dora and Diego, Max and
Ruby, Mickey Mouse, puzzles, games, cars, mood sand. Loves fresh fruit,
stuffed animals (dogs especially) and Dinosaurs. Wants to skate like his big
sister.
Sibling's Interests:
Mireya loves American Girl, Webkinz, Books, stuffed animals, anything
sparkly and girly, diaries, pretty notebook items, crafts, scrapbooking and
Barbies.
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