A Family's Christmas Miracle
- 11-year-old Isaac Young has been battling leukemia for the last two years, spending all holidays at a children’s hospital. His biggest wish this Christmas thankfully came true: Getting to be home with his family.
- Isaac was diagnosed with leukemia at age 2. He was in foster care, and his parents took him in while sick. The boy relapsed at age 8.
- Symptoms of childhood leukemia for parents to look out for include dizziness, shortness of breath, pale skin, headaches, bone pain, and easy bruising or bleeding, such as nosebleeds or bleeding gums.
"This was the first Christmas since before his diagnosis that we will not be going to the hospital for a chemo appointment," Isacc’s mom Karen Young told TODAY. "He was in-patient for two Thanksgivings. He had radiation on his ninth and 10th birthdays. This is actually his first birthday in several years that we are not driving off to a radiation appointment."
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"It was obviously heartbreaking. A lot of ‘What does this mean for him? What does this mean for us?’" Young expressed. "We had a lot of pretty serious conversations that you don't typically plan on having with your third grader."
Two years ago, Isacc told his mom that he thought he hurt his testicles while playing sports. His parents called his oncologist, and found out that it is not uncommon for boys with leukemia to experience problems with their testicles. Other symptoms to look out for include dizziness, headaches, bone pain, easy bruising or bleeding, such as nosebleeds or bleeding gums.
"They pretty much instantly wanted to see him the next day and had him in for biopsies and then did a spinal tap to confirm what it is," Young said. "He relapsed in his testicles and spinal fluid."
Despite this devastating recurrence, Young said that Isacc has shown tremendous courage and strength with the unfortunate hand that he was dealt.
"Isacc has been through a lot and yet what he has gone through and his experiences have made him one of the kindest, most compassionate kids that you could ever know. He has care and concern for others," she said, noting that he had 43 nights at the hospital for in-patient chemotherapy, 12 rounds of testicular radiation and 12 rounds of cranial radiation.
"He's strong. He's resilient. He's brave and I think he's going to do great things because of these experiences,” Young added. "We learned how much we enjoy each other's company and how simple life can be and how you can enjoy things without all the busyness we had before and that's something we're all hoping we can figure out how to hold onto."
Learning About Blood Cancers
What is a cancer of the blood? These cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, are cancers that primarily affect the bone marrow, the area in your bones where new blood cells are produced. Because they effect the bone marrow, blood cancers are different than solid tumors like those of the lung, prostate, and breasts.
Dr. Nina Shah, hematologist at UCSF, summarizes blood cancers to SurvivorNet by explaining, "One cell got really selfish and decided that it needed to take up all the resources of everybody else, and in doing so, took up space and energy from the rest of the body.”
What is a Blood CancerHow is it Different?
Childhood Cancer
Many times we hear of children handling cancer treatment better than adults. Sadly, it’s because many times it’s all they know.
According to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, more than 95 percent of childhood cancer survivors have significant health-related issues because of the current treatment options, and only 4 percent of the billions of dollars spent each year on cancer research and treatments are directed towards treating childhood cancer in the United States. Since 1980, fewer than 10 drugs have been developed for use in children with cancer while hundreds of drugs have been created exclusively for adults.
Related: New Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Maintenance Treatment Extends Patients' Lives
Dr. Elizabeth Raetz, director of pediatric hematology and oncology at NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center, reminded us in a previous interview that there is still reason for hope.
"There are also targeted treatments and different immunotherapies that have been studied in adults and have now moved into clinical trials for children and there has been a great deal of excitement in the community about that," Dr. Elizabeth Raetz told SurvivorNet.
Still, navigating a child's cancer diagnosis can be especially difficult.
Jayne Wexler can relate. Her son battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia and now deals with heart disease as a side effect of chemotherapy. In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Wexler explained that in addition to regular parent worries having a child with cancer means living with a whole new world of anxieties.
The Impact of a Childhood Cancer Diagnosis on the Whole FamilyJayne Wexler Shares Her Story
"My husband and I will always have fear," she said. "I don't think we can ever let go of that. Just when he was OK, then he relapsed, and then he had the bone marrow transplant … so there's always some sort of worry."
Wexler admits she tries to live for each and every day, but its understandable that this does not always come easy.
"And I do tryyou hear people say thiswe do have to live each day and be thankful for what we have," Wexler said. "And it's hard to remember that when you're caught up … it's very hard to just sort of enjoy the moment, because we just don't know what's going to happen in the future."
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