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This picture is of two miracles, Christy had a Bone Marrow Transplant in April 14, 1987, her son Ryan was born Jan. 26, 1997.
The reason Christy was sent to Children's Hospital was in October she had some pain in her hip, she spent a few days in the hospital and the doctor had removed some fluid from her hip, but he didn't know the cause of her pain. In December the pain came back and Dr. Greenfield had called Children's Hospital Oncology Dept. Dr. Greenfield had talked to me and he set up the appointment for December 24, 1986 for early afternoon.
Like most people we had made plans for the holidays, but after getting the news about Christy all we felt like doing was to stay home. Christy was in fifth grade and she had a teacher that she really liked. Without telling Christy we called her teacher and made plans for her to come over for a few minutes on Christmas Day. We thought this would give Christy a little boost, which it did.
Christy was going to Seahurst Elementary and the school really supported her and the family. After the winter break the teachers informed the children, the class rooms made cards and would send them to her at least twice a month. The teachers collected money to help pay with the traveling cost. We lived just about 20 to 30 minutes away but going back and forth twice a day was expensive. A couple of times they bought us groceries. (Christy's Dad never seen a school support a family like this and he changed his mind about teachers.) I think the one thing I remember most was the love I felt from the whole school. When Christy was allowed to go back to school, they had an assembly, they welcomed back one of there students. As I looked around I seen the love in the teachers eyes, there were a lot of tears, but these were happy tears. Down through the years we have lost many of those wonderful teachers, we will always remember them and keep them in our hearts.
We are sharing our story to help others as they fight for there lives, to give a little encouragement for the care givers and to those going through treatment.
December 24, 1986 Christy, her Dad and I were at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Washington. We had an appointment at the Oncology Clinic. Little did we know, that day would change our lives forever.
They took Christy's blood and did a Bone Marrow Aspiration (The removal of a sample of fluid and cells from the bone marrow for examination under a microscope.) When this was done they only gave Christy a local in the hip area where they were going to remove the bone marrow, but it was very painful for her. I remember standing next to Christy and hearing her scream in pain and crying as the doctor put the needle into her hip, then I heard bone being broken, this was the needle going into the bone. To this day I can still hear that sound, I don't think I will ever forget it, or Christy screams.
After the bone marrow was removed, Christy, her Dad and I went out to wait. We were called back to a exam room where we would find out the results of the test. There all three of us were, after a few moments Dr. Chard came through the door. He sat down and told us that Christy had acute non-lymphocytic leukemia, he went on to explain this to us, and the treatment, (treatment would begin December 26, 1986). Dr. Chard told us to go home and enjoy Christmas, as we were leaving we said thank you and we would see him on the Friday.
We went back to my parents to pick up our other two children Rachael and Walter, and to tell them that Christy had leukemia. Then to go home and call Carl's family that we wouldn't be down for Christmas Eve dinner and the reason why.
The day after Christmas we started the fight for Christy's life. She had a Hickman line put in, a small, flexible plastic tube inserted into the large vein above the heart. It is used to draw blood, give medication, fluids, and transfusions.
After the Hickman line was inserted she was started on chemo., at this time her Dad and I was learning on how to clean the Hickman, flush it and to help Christy when her blood counts would go down. When her counts would go down we would have to make sure that no one came around her that was ill. We made several signs to put on the front door, some of them read, NO ONE ALLOWED IN THAT IS SICK or HAS BEEN AROUND SOMEONE THAT IS SICK, YOU MUST WEAR A MASK AND WASH HANDS. We really didn't allow anyone around her, only those that would follow are rules. In 1986 and 1987 when she was going through treatments, one thing we were told was to wash hands and wear a mask. I am not sure what they tell you about wearing a mask but I do know washing hands is one thing they tell you to do.
Christy had several rounds of chemo. during this time she had some infections but nothing that the doctors couldn't control, (with a lot of help from God). As her hair started falling out we tried to make jokes. We even gave some hair to one of her doctors that was bald. This seemed to help her deal with her hair falling out, we tried not to make a big deal about it. I know it still was upsetting to her but she made it through. The nice thing about it when her hair did start to fall out she was in the hospital. Christy even made comments that she was glad it was in the hospital shower and not at home, or we would of had some plugged up pipes.
During the first week of treatment Carl (Dad), Rachael (age 9), Walter (age 7) and I (Sondra), were tested to see if any of us would be able to match Christy. We were told that the odds were against us. What little the doctors knew is that we had a group of warriors that were praying for us. It seemed like years before we got the results of the blood work up, but the day did arrive. Dr. Geyer came into Christy�s room with a great big smile, and gave us the news, that Rachael was a perfect match. I know I cried but I also thanked God. I remember calling Christy's doctor out in Burien, Dr. Mark Greenfield to tell him the news, he was thrilled.
After several rounds of chem., Christy was in remission. We were then sent over to Fred Hutchinson, they informed us about what the next step would be, then they had to retest to confirm that Rachael was a perfect match. Then we had a meeting with several doctors, this is where they told us that Christy would never be adle to have children, and that they would tell her if we didn't. Even at the ripe age of eleven Christy had talked that one day she would become a Mom. We told her, but also told her that by the time she was ready to have children who knows what the medical field would be adle to do. The next step was to wait for a room over at the Hospital.
Back home we went to wait for a call saying that a room was ready. Several days later we received a call from The Hutch saying a room was ready for Christy. While waiting for this call we had already had Christy's bags packed and a few cloths for me as I would be staying with her at night at times. We only live thirty minutes from the hospital so I was able to spend time with Christy and the rest of the family.
Christy was now admitted into the hospital where she would be given high doses of chem. and full body radiation. This would kill off the remaining bone marrow and get her ready to receive the bone marrow from Rachael. Some people say that Christy had surgery to receive the bone marrow, but what happens is like a blood transfusion. The doctors remove the bone marrow from Rachael, then they filter the bone marrow, then they hook up the bag of bone marrow to the Hackman line and let the bone marrow drip into Christy's system. The bone marrow then goes through the blood vessels and finds its way home to the bone marrow. After the bone marrow gets to its home then if everything works like it suppose to the bone marrow grows and starts making blood products.
Christy had seven days of full body radiation which caused one problem that was very noticeable, burns (very much like a sunburn), this was very noticeable around her hickmans site. We didn't get all the tape off of her skin and this caused a bad burn. When we seen it for some reason I knew what it was, but when I showed it to her nurse, the nurse said the area around her Hackman line was infected and her Hackman line would be pulled. I told her that it was caused from radiation and told the nurse to get out, but not that nice. When the doctors came in, we showed it to them and they said it was caused by having tape on her and that the radiation caused the tape to burn her skin. I had the nurse come back into the room and had the doctors tell her what it was, then I told them what she had said. I don't know what was said all I know is that she was never back in Christy's room.
Back in 1987 the turn over for nurses on the BMT ward was high, I don't know how it is now, but I do know the best nurses Christy had were the ones that came up from Harborview Burn Unit, and the ones that came over from Children�s Hospital in Seattle. They seemed to have a better understanding of the patient and the care givers. One nurse was in Christy's room, (she had a pig that when you squeezed it, it would make a noise that sounded like someone was passing gas). Well Christy had the pig under her covers and every time the nurse had his back towards Christy she would squeeze it, he would turn around and she would be sitting there with a straight face, he would then go back to what he was doing and she would do it again. This went on for several minutes tell she couldn't take it any more and broke out laughing.
On day fourteen they did a bone marrow aspiration (this is a removal of fluid and cells from the bone marrow, this will tell them if the donors bone marrow was grafting and if there was any cancer cells.) The test came back 100% donors and it was cancer free. Now all that was left was getting the counts up so she could be released. The day of discharge was May 15, 1987 Day 31.
On the day of discharge the staff had a meeting with us, we had looked in to home care and our insurance would pay for home care, and that is what we wanted. Also we wanted to go to her doctors office for any x-rays, because they would do them before office hours and this would keep her from the crowds. The people at Fred Hutch didn't like this but we stood our ground. We still had to go to Fred Hutch for check ups but the time we saved by doing most all of the test closer to home saved Christy from being around people, and kept her from being so tired. They also wanted us to rent an apartment down by the hospital, but we only lived thirty minutes away and we felt it was safer for Christy at home.
As we were leaving Christy's hospital room the Social Worker asked to speak to me, I went over to her and she said to me "you have a anger problem, you really need help." I told her that I would be fine once we left this place. She said, you do know that Christy has a fifty-fifty chance of coming back in to the hospital with an infection." I let her know that we would not be coming back into the hospital, and Christy was never admitted to the hospital
When we got home we put up signs on the door, we kept mask for guest to wear and we had hand soap, and paper towels in the kitchen and before you could see Christy you had to wash your hands. When someone would visit they knew what they would need to do, if someone would come to the door and wouldn't follow our rules they were not allowed in. We still feel today that by doing this we kept Christy healthy, even when she would go with us to the store she wore a mask to help protect her from germs.
There was one time we were in a store and this woman kept following Christy and I around the store. She told her friend that girl shouldn't be allowed into the store if she is sick enough to wear a mask so no one would get what she had. I informed the woman that it wasn't Christy that was dangerous it was her, she had germs on her that could make Christy sick. The woman turn around and told her friend I was rude. I didn't want to give the lady a lesson in manners so Christy and I just went to another part of the store. Most of the people were very kind and asked about Christy, I would explain and they would always say God Bless her.
A little over a month later at Fred Hutch, Christy was receiving two units of red cells, the doctor said we could have her double Hackman removed. Now for them to remove it all they had to do was to wrap the end of it around there hand and pull, as they were pulling they would continue wrapping the line around there hand. The doctor started pulling on the line and the line broke. They called Dr. Hackman who was on call and he told them to prep her with a local and he would be right there to remove it surgical. You really had to be there but for of those who have heard a child scream in pain, multiply it by 100 and you might know what we were hearing.
Here the doctor was cutting into Christy and there I sat with Christy along with her Dad. They had to stop and I needed some fresh air, I stepped into a room where several people were receiving blood transfusions. A few asked me what was happening and I didn't want to scare them with the truth that when they were removing the Hackman and it broke, I just told them Christy was having a fit about getting more blood. I know if I would of heard the truth I wouldn't of wanted my Hackman line pulled unless they put me to sleep.
The reason the Hackman line broke, there is a cuff that holds the Hackman in place under the skin. Christy grew and tissue grew around the cuff which bonded the Hackman line to the cuff so the line wouldn't slide. As they were removing the line they were giving her red cells through her single Hackman line. She was bleeding but received enough blood cells to bring up her counts, to a low normal range. After the mini surgery and the blood we were sent home.
On day 100 Christy was discharged to her doctor in Burien. At last we didn't have to go downtown to Fred Hutchinson. Christy would need to see her doctor for check ups to keep tabs on her blood counts. That 100 day marked that she was free but still would need to be watched for any GVH (graft verses host), and to still keep tabs of her counts to see if she would need any blood products. She still had along road to full recovery but the first 100 days are the worst time for something major to happen. We know started seeing the light at the tunnel.
On day 149 Christy was at Children�s Hospital to have her single Hackman removed. We had been told that it should be adle to be removed by pulling on it, that another line breaking on her was almost impossible. Well the impossible happened and her single line broke. The doctors at Children though said they would get her into O.R. and put her to sleep, so they could remove it with her feeling no pain. This was a lot better than hearing her scream.
Now that both of her Hackman Lines were out, we felt that life could go back to normal. Christy would continue to see Dr. Greenfield, but now it was about normal everyday things. She was told the word cure would not be said spoken for five years, and as I write this December 24, 1999 it will be 13 years and we have been saying cured for several years.
Christy has had a few minor problems in the last several years, she had cataracts removed from both of her eyes, this was due to the chem. and radiation, and sinus surgery.
Here is a link to Fred Hutchinson
The greatest news a woman can hear from your doctor you are going to have a baby. Now Christy knew it wouldn't be easy, that she was High Risk, but with God, a great doctor and her mom watching to make sure she took care of herself she felt things would be okay.
For those of you that don't know Christy she is a junk food junkie, but she did everything the doctor told her to and took great care of herself. She wanted this baby and she was doing everything in her power to follow doctors orders.
Christy started having labor pains early, Ryan wasn't to make his appearance until March, but he wanted to see what his Mommy looked like and came into this world in late January of 1997. His weight was six pounds six ounces, with the cutest pointed head, if you don't believe me take a look at his page. He was cute when he was born but now he is a little knock out, all the girls thinks so. Ryan is the apple of Mom's eye, and he has his Grandma wrapped around his little finger.
This is Katelyn Rose, she had a Bone Marrow Transplant for Aplastic Anemia. She has a homepage, please go read her story. Katelyn Rose
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