We’re the Keech family, and we’re writing to tell you about the journey to save our daughter’s life. It’s a journey we began last year in partnership with the remarkable staff at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. We’re sharing our story with the hope that you will join us in raising awareness for Childhood Cancer. As families go, ours is pretty typical – but perhaps a bit busier than some, since we have five children – all girls. Our oldest is nine; our youngest, just over a year. In the midst of that very tight group – “the wolf pack,” as we affectionately call them – is our fourth child, Phoebe, who will turn three on April, 27th. Last fall, she began to display some troubling symptoms. Her recurring low-grade fever and the cluster of bumps on the back of her neck concerned us, but it was the extreme, sudden pain she felt under her arms when we lifted her out of the tub one day that sent us rushing to our pediatrician. Something was wrong, and the blood tests confirmed the worst. Phoebe had leukemia. Specifically, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, or ALL, a cancer that occurs in the blood and bone marrow. ALL causes an overproduction of certain blood cells – in Phoebe’s case, cancerous B lymphocytes – which crowd out healthy cells. As its name warns, ALL is an acute cancer; if not diagnosed and addressed right away, it tends to grow and spread quickly, and can prove fatal within months. Somehow, in the moments of chaos and panic following the diagnosis, we made a very wise decision. That parental intuition kicked in, and we knew this wasn’t a case for the local ER. We headed for the University of Michigan. It’s hard to capture the intensity of that first day, but looking back, the response of the Mott team was nothing short of extraordinary. Within fifteen hours, Phoebe had undergone a spinal tap, an echocardiogram, a bone marrow aspiration and, after a port was put into her chest, two chemotherapy treatments. The biggest battle of her young life began with a bang. But as incredible as that first strike was, even more remarkable to us was the compassion we experienced that day and every day since from the family, friends, community members, doctors, nurses and support staff at Mott. From the moment our family and friends rallied around us, “Team Phoebe” was in it to win it. How is the Keech family doing today? Inspired by Phoebe’s resilience and courage, and the Team Phoebe philosophy instilled by all of you, we continue to doggedly fight our daughter’s leukemia, combining the standard treatment protocol with a clinical research trial. We’re happy to report that Phoebe and her sisters are thriving (and keeping us very busy!), and her prognosis is very good. On behalf of our entire family – Cecelia (age 9), Grace (age 7), Vivian (age 3), Josie (age 1) and of course, Phoebe – we hope you’ll consider joining us in raising awareness! Thank you. Team Phoebe
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 15:36:31 +0000
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