NOTE FROM THE MACS STAFF

Christine's story was written before she passed away. We will update her story as soon as we receive more information from her family.

Christine was born on February 24, 2003. She was born one week earlier than her due date since I had to be induced because of a blood pressure problem. It was a long delivery; it took 40 hours to have her. When she was born, she was a beautiful, healthy, 7lb 14oz baby. Since then, she has grown really fast. She was wearing 5 years old clothing at age 3.

Late September 2006, our family took a short vacation to a Florida beach. When we left, Christine was as normal as usual. A day and a half later, she started to have a tooth ache and couldn’t drink or eat. For a girl who is constantly eating, this was strange. Although she had tooth decay since she was 2 years old, I was still surprised that Christine had a toothache since we brushed her teeth 3 times a day and she already had major works done on her teeth twice, the last of which was not even 6 months prior. We gave her Tylenol for the ache, but that didn’t work. So we gave her Motrin, which helped a little bit, but Christine still could not eat or drink. We left the beach and went to the dentist the next day. The dentist prescribed antibiotics for Christine, which we started right away. After 4 days, she was still having pain, though she started to drink and eat soft foods. During this whole time, we also noticed another strange thing. Christine had bruises on her legs that were getting darker and darker. We still did not think she was sick, since she has always been a healthy child, but since the antibiotics were not working as we thought they would and because of her strange bruises, we took her to the pediatrician. Our doctor had Christine’s blood tested and we left without any results. That same night, the doctor called and told us to go to Children’s Health Care of Atlanta to check Christine’s blood more thoroughly. The doctor said not to worry too much, that it might be just a virus and nothing serious. Now we know the doctor was just saying that to not worry us.

The next morning, we went to AFLAC at CHOA. Christine had more blood tests done, and we waited a long time. Then, one of doctors from AFLAC came in and told us she has Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia which is a subtype of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia . We were shocked and did not know what to do or what to think. We felt like we were dreaming. Christine was admitted to the hospital that day so treatment could begin right away. The next day, Christine had surgery to put in her central line. Christine’s bone marrow was tested and we found out she has APML (M3). Chemo treatments began too, and we ended up staying in the hospital for almost a month. By the end of 2006, Christine’s injection chemo was done, and her central line was removed. They did another bone marrow test at the end of January, and from that, it was determined that Christine should stay on combinational oral chemo treatments for about 14 months.

After that, everything was going as smoothly as planned. Doctors told us Christine’s curable rate is 80% plus and she was on track. On March 16, 2007, I took her to our pediatric doctor for a check up since she was not eating because of abdominal pain. The doctor listened to Christine’s heart, among some other seemingly routine practices, but then the doctor told me that Christine had Heart Failure. I thought I heard something else. The doctor called Christine’s oncology doctor to let him know we were going to the hospital. Christine’s pediatric doctor called an ambulance to take us.

We were in the hospital for a week and Christine started heart medication. Before her heart condition, she was very good taking her medication, but when the amount of medication doubled with heart failure, she started to get stressed and fought with me when it was time to take medication. Sometimes, it took 2 hours to take medication.

On May 3rd, 2007, we took Christine to the ER to be checked, and she was sent to the intensive care unit. Christine had to have another surgery to put back her central line and put a feeding tube in her stomach. Now she is on 24 hour medication to pump her heart. We are out of the ICU now, but still have to watch Christine very closely. She can’t have a heart transplant because she has Leukemia. Our family and friends pray that Christine’s heart will improve so she can finish her treatments for Leukemia and be eligible for a heart transplant. But of course, only if she needs one.

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