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Kyle
Age 10
Canton
Kyle was 2 1/2 years old when he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on September 26, 1997. The week before it was confirmed I thought he just had a virus, but I had gotten a little concerned about the bruises I was finding all over his arms and legs. I took him into the Doctors office and she wanted to admit him into the hospital for observation because she had heard a heart murmur. Within a couple of hours of being admitted and the nurses drawing his blood...Dr. Savings from the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate was in our room telling me she was 90% sure Kyle had Leukemia. I was in total disbelief. You ask yourself why and how can this happen to your child. Our world was changing and we didn't know what to expect, but I was determined to do whatever I could to help Kyle. I have to tell you at that point I was ready for the battle, because I had just lost my husband in a line of duty accident nineteen days prior to Kyle being diagnosed. I couldn't give up hope even after what our family had already been through. They wasted no time and we were on a plane to Memphis by 8pm the same night.
Kyle spent nine weeks in Memphis going through some very intense chemotherapy. He was in remission when we got to go home at Thanksgiving and we had so much to be thankful for. Things seemed to be going great and Kyle was receiving his chemo once a week like he was supposed to. We had to go down to Memphis for a regular six month check up in October, 1999 where he was to have a spinal and bone marrow aspiration. We only had six more months left of chemo and his test results of the spinal showed leukemia cells in the fluid. I was devastated by the news. He looked so healthy on the outside. Kyle had seen me crying and wanted to know why. I told him I was sad because he had to have more medicine, and he just looked at me and said, "It's only more medicine, mom." I couldn't believe what I was hearing from a four year old. He has been such an inspiration to me these past five years. St. Jude kept our hopes alive for Kyle by aggressively attacking the leukemia with radiation and additional chemotherapy. He has been off treatment for a year and a half now, and is a very happy, lively, and healthy 7 year old in remission of his leukemia.
St. Jude has given Kyle his childhood back and you can not put a price on that. I have so much to be thankful for and I want to do all I can to make sure that other St. Jude parents can be as fortunate as I am to have a healthy child once again. My way of giving back is by participating in the Canton to Peoria St. Jude Run. I know I will never be able to repay what St. Jude has done for us, but I'm going to put forth my best effort just as they did for Kyle.
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