NOTE FROM THE MACS STAFF

Henry's story was written before he passed away. We will update his story as soon as we receive more information from his family.

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 were in the hospital for a long time because he had a very bad skin disorder. His stomach was all red and puffy and his legs too. He had a lot of fluid in his body that slowly drained out.

Since January 2008, Henry continued to be in the hospital for a month and a half. It was long but we are so blessed that he recovered. His skin is almost healed. We had an option of doing a Bone Marrow Transplant or stay on chemotherapy treatments. We chose to do the Bone Marrow Transplant.

It's been awhile but there has been NO bone marrow donors located for Henry. There was an option of doing a cord blood transplant. But due to his weight, he would need 2 different cord bloods from two different babies, which could cause serious complications like Graft Versus Host Disease. His doctors are skeptical on how long chemotherapy will last before the Leukemia returns and also skeptical on doing the Bone Marrow Transplant because of his skin condition and because of his breathing, he could get pneumonia very easily.

We are in the process of doing several bone marrow drives in Arizona, Honolulu, Northern California and Southern California. If you are able to, please sponsor a bone marrow drive where you live. If it can't help my son, it could help someone you love. A family member, a friend, or even a stranger. Please keep my son and our family in your prayers. Each day we live is a blessing.

(..... to be continued .....)