September 1st is dedicated to our hero Dane’lle
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At the age of 10 my daughter was diagnosed with cancer, leukemia ALL. My daughter was always a healthy girl; we would only visit the doctor for her yearly check ups. Some of my family members noticed that my daughter was a little pale and insisted that I take her to the doctors. There, they tried to draw blood and it wouldn’t come out of her veins. Immediately, they sent us to the emergency room where they performed several tests and then had us sent to Children’s Hospital Orange County (CHOC).
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They continued to perform tests and gave us the bad news of the type of cancer that my daughter had. They gave us a 2-year and a half treatment plan because she was considered a high-risk case. She had mutations in her white blood cells and her age (10 years old). They also told us that my daughter had been born with abnormal chromosomes and lead in her blood, evidences of sickle cell.
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She continued treatment and all was going well and at the age of 14 they gave us the terrible news that the cancer had returned. We began the process again at CHOC and were then transferred to City of Hope. We remained hospitalized for almost a year. She had several complications including surgery to remove a piece of her lung, which was caused by a large mass that grew. Other complications including diabetes caused by the medicine, an extremely high level of triglycerides, they had to remove bags of this substance since it could affect her health. Because her cancer cells did not fall to a .001 level, it was decided that a bone marrow transplant was necessary. She has no siblings from the same mother and father so we had to find an outside donor of bone marrow. In order to get her ready, she underwent radiation and more chemotherapy in order to bring her immune system to a zero. About a month later, she began with extreme itchiness and redness in her skin. A virus had attacked her and her skin became discolored in various areas. The growth of her nails and hair are also affected.
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We continue visiting the doctor every two weeks to a month.
