A Young Fighter
- Malachi Gray-Read, 11, was taken to the emergency room by his mother in February after he started experiencing knee and ankle pain that was radiating to his lower back. What doctors initially thought were COVID-related symptoms actually turned out to be blood cancer.
- Initially given Ibuprofen and discharged from the ER, four days later they found out he had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a cancer that affects the body’s white blood cells.
- ALL is very aggressive, therefore treatment is highly aggressive as well. Malachi will unfortunately be in treatment for the next five years, but he’s luckily handling his new normal with great strength!
Initially given Ibuprofen and discharged from the ER, four days later they found out he had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a cancer that affects the body’s white blood cells.
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“He was a strong child before. His resilience resounds the most because he tackles every challenge and he’s had so many,” his mom said. “He’s had every side effect possible due to every drug he’s had.”
Sadly, Malachi will be going through treatment until he is 16. He has developed steroid-induced diabetes and has had problems with his kidney function, which recently landed him back in the hospital with breathing difficulties.
“He loves school and football but he hasn’t been able to attend for months. It’s only in this last week or so he’s managed a couple of hours at school.”
“He would always be playing football, always,” she added. “He was just getting to that stage where he could go out to the park with his friends which he was absolutely loving.”
Luckily, one of his other hobbies is serving him well right now as it gives him something to do while resting in bed healing: gaming.
“His biggest passion is his X-Box. Gaming has been such a lifeline for him.”
“We’re a close family but this has brought us closer together. It’s had a huge impact on us,” Alicia shared. “It’s been a hard journey for everyone. There’s been a change in normality. We all had to isolate for five weeks from his diagnosis. Everything just stopped.”
Malachi has thankfully been handling his new normal as well as he can.
“He’s one-of-a-kind. He’s made this journey easier,” the mom of three admitted. “The days I’ve fallen apart are the days that I’ve struggled, because he doesn’t realise how much he helps me to manage this journey.”
The Impact of a Childhood Cancer Diagnosis on the Whole Family
Learning About Malachi’s Blood Cancer
In general, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow, but there's so much more to know about disease. Dr. Olalekan Oluwole, a hematologist with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, recently sat down with SurvivorNet to talk about ALL, how it affects the body and the type of treatments that work to fight it.
"ALL is a type of cancer that is very aggressive," Dr. Oluwole explained. "It grows very fast. Within a few weeks, a few months, the person will start to feel very sick. And that's why we will have to give it an equally aggressive type of treatment to break that cycle."
What Is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia ALL?
He says many times the leukemia is rested in the bone marrow, and because it is an abnormal growth, it just keeps dividing.
"It doesn't follow rules, and it doesn't stop," he said. "Not only that, because this is part of the immune system, the immune system is sorta like the police of the body. So those abnormal cells that have now become cancer, they have the ability to go to many places. They go into the blood, and they often go into the tissue or the lining around the brain."
"By the time somebody comes to us and they have ALL we already assume that it has gone everywhere in the body, and we have to treat them like that," Dr. Oluwole said.
Symptoms of leukemia can vary depending on the type of leukemia. Common signs and symptoms of the disease include:
- Fever or chills
- Persistent fatigue, weakness
- Frequent or severe infections
- Losing weight without tryin
- Swollen lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen
- Easy bleeding or bruising
- Recurrent nosebleeds
- Tiny red spots in your skin (petechiae)
- Excessive sweating, especially at night
- Bone pain or tenderness
Here at SurvivorNet, we always encourage people to advocate for themselves when it comes to cancer and, more generally, health care. When it comes to a child, the parent must become the advocate. Although symptoms of Leukemia are often initially tough to identify, make sure to get your child checked out if something seems amiss, and don't stop for answers until you find out what's wrong.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.