Abbie's Story
written by mom Ruth
Abbie was born March 30, 1992, at a whopping 10
pounds, 2 ounces and was 22 inches long! She was always smiling and from the
moment she was able, she lived her life helping others.
As a youngster, she volunteered for The Salvation Army, packing and
distributing Christmas gifts for less fortunate children. She also helped at
several disaster sites by sorting boxes, clothes, stamping items with
identification for packing, handing out food and beverages to victims and
other volunteers and many other things.
As she grew older, she dedicated her
free time to helping others by participating in Special Olympics by being a
"hugger". She also volunteered and joined the youth board for the American
Cancer Society Relay For Life. She started her own Relay team with friends
and each year, they raise $1,000 to participate. In addition to that, she is
very active on the board in the youth committee planning events to keep the
youth involved for the 24 hours of the Relay. Many times, she has donated
her hair to "Locks of Love". Little did we know, Abbie's life was going to
be affected personally by some of the volunteer work she had done.
In December 2007 and into January, 2008, Abbie had been complaining about
being tired and having intermittent fevers. With it being cold and flu
season and Abbie so active in the community, we just thought she
may have been doing too much or may have a case of mono. After 2 nights of
the fever not being relieved by medicine and rest, Abbie had an appointment
with her family doctor, Kevin Hopkins, MD. Dr. Hopkins said it was obvious
that Abbie had some type of infection going on, just not sure where, so he
wanted to play the game, "Find the infection". This started with a throat
swab and urinalysis. When those came back negative, he ordered blood work
and a chest x-ray. Abbie has never been sick, never had more than childhood
immunizations, so when the mention of bloodwork was discussed, she wasn't a
very happy camper. However, she knew something was going on and she just
wanted to get better.
After the chest x-ray, Dr. Hopkins saw something quite
abnormal in Abbie's chest area. He sent her for a CAT scan. Not 2 minutes
after Abbie came out of the CAT scan, Dr. Hopkins was calling us on our cell
phone and asked that we come back to his office. We walked into his office
and noted that he had been crying. This couldn't be good. He said that the
abnormality in her chest was actually inflamed lymph nodes and the
radiologist was certain it was a type of cancer... lymphoma.
Abbie's first
question was, "Am I going to die?" Dr. Hopkins answer was, "I don't know". This
led to an immediate hospitalization and scheduling for surgery including a
lymph node biopsy, a Mediport placement, and bone marrow biopsies. Abbie
came through the surgery well, and the next day we were given the diagnosis
of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We were encouraged that there is a 98% cure rate.
However, Abbie would have to undergo at least 3 rounds of chemo, followed by
radiation and/or more chemo.
She has finished her second round of chemo and is doing reasonably well. As
a teenager, losing her hair has been one of the more traumatic episodes, but
she is handling it quite well. She has unending support from family and
friends and is on the prayer chain of many, many churches, which is very
encouraging, as Abbie was brought up in a Christian home, knowing full well
the blessing and benefits of prayer!
Abilities:
See: Yes.
Hear: Yes.
Talk: Yes.
Walk: Yes.
Read: Yes.
Use hands: Yes.
Siblings:
sister Tiffany, age 23
brother Noah, age 9
Child's Interests:
Abbie enjoys reading, magazines, journaling, etc. She has recently been
introduced to Webkinz and loves to "play" with them while she is in the
hospital. She is also very involved in her High School Band and has a deep
love for music. She likes any of the popular stuff (not country, though).
She likes to read just about anything and enjoys the more popular teen/girl
magazines like Cosmo girl and teen Vogue.
Sibling's Interests:
Noah loves to read and play with his Webkinz.
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