September 1999	September 2000	January 2001

Diagnosis

The school nurse called me at work and told me she saw Alex walking down the hallway. She noticed his neck was swollen on the right side and thought he might have some sort of infection and wanted to bring it to my attention.

I took him to an ear/nose/throat doctor that day. He said it looked like an infected lymph node and prescribed antibiotics. I didn't think anything more of it. I gave him the pills and expected the infection to go away. It was as simple as that. Then the 10th day came and there was no change in the swelling. Actually it might have even increased a little.

I called my family physician. We went to his office for a sonogram and he said it looked like an abscess. His recommendation was to take Alex to the children's hospital to have it drained. I left his office and went straight there.

After a round of nurses, paramedics and 5 or 6 doctors examining him they decided it wasn't really an abscess. It seemed more "rubbery" than that of a liquid was one doctor's comment. They suggested I take him to the hospital Ear/Nose/Throat clinic for a more accurate diagnoses. The doctors at the clinic then scheduled a pathologist to come in and perform a biopsy.

Up to this point we've spent a week trying to figure out what was going on. The longer it took for them to narrow it down the more fear developed in us. Two days later I was at work and received the call. "Alex has Lymphoma" were his words. At that very moment I felt like I had just been handed my sons death warrant. Cancer. That scared me immeasurably. I cried all the way home. We were told to try to keep life as normal as possible. Uh, Okay, If you think it can be done.

Seven days before his 10th birthday my son was diagnosed with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoblastic Lymphoma with 3% Leukemia in the bone marrow. Given the wide array of life altering circumstances that could affect a family this was not one I ever dreamed would touch us. From what I know of my family no childhood cancers have ever been diagnosed. We've had elderly members affected by a variety and even a few members lives cut short because of it but never the children.

It is my hope as Alex's mother that this website will allow us to share our experience with you and other families in order to help us all gain knowledge, share fears and discover triumphs in a difficult time.

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