Our group, World of Charity Stitching, recently donated a quilt to a little girl named Jacey who has Leukemia.
One of our members, Steff W. from Canada wrote, "I saw my friend Jordi to give her the quilt, and
she was just so thrilled with it, everyone did such a wonderful job
with it. Jacey was in the hospital this week for lumbar punctures, 2
different chemo drugs and a flu shot, and took it like a trooper. They
are 6 months into their cancer journey now, and so far so good. Thanks
again so much for your thoughtful gift, I know it is very much
appreciated! It is very apt, as Jacey now qualifies for a wish from the 'Make a wish' foundation, and wants to go to Disneyland once she is able
to travel out of
country again!"
Jacey’s mom, Jordi, wrote the following about Jacey’s journey:
“Jacey is our energetic, extroverted,
spirited 3 year old. Affectionately known as our Jacey Badger she was also
extremely healthy. Following her third birthday in March we noticed that she
was napping in the afternoons, and seemed to spend a lot of time on the couch.
We passed it off as her being tired from starting preschool. At
the beginning of April, though, she also seemed extremely
pale and even more lethargic than before. We went to her paediatrician, who
sent her for blood work. The results came back with a red blood cell count of
60 - normal is 120. We were sent to the local children hospital's ER. Do not
pass GO; do not collect $200. At about 11:00 pm, our paediatrician
showed up, 3 machines had missed it, but
the pathologist manually checking her blood caught them. Cancerous cells in
Jacey's blood. Up until that point, I had never believed that time stops. It
does, though, when you hear those words. It's straight out of a movie, complete
with blood rushing in your eyes and thoughts of, "This is a dream."
Within 48 hours, we had a diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Jacey
had a central line and was hooked up to her first dose of chemo.
"This is where the blessings started. Jacey
was diagnosed with the most common - and most treatable - form of childhood
cancer. ALL has a 96% remission rate, and Jacey is considered a low-risk case.
We live in a city with a major
children's hospital. We have my mother living minutes away from us, and she
took our 5 year old daughter, Cami, in to live with her. You don't realize how inspiring children
are until you see them in situations like this. Jacey continues to be a bright,
energetic imp. 6 months after diagnosis, she has had 10 lumbar punctures and
approximately 30 doses of chemo. She is fast becoming a legend amongst the
recovery room nurses for her love of red popsicles, her renditions of Elton
John's Crocodile Rock (Elton is her favourite singer) and her immediate demands
to go to go to the playroom.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for
the beautiful gift of the Disney quilt. The amount of support that our family
have received awes and humbles me. I came across this quote on the 6 month date
of Jacey's diagnosis, and I hold it close to me now: 'We are so often
caught up in the destination that we forget to appreciate the journey,
especially the goodness of the people we meet on the way. Appreciation is a
wonderful feeling, don't overlook it.'
Thank you, Jacey and the rest of the Strem family."
Leukemia is a type of cancer that
starts in the bone marrow (soft, inner part of the bones) It moves
quickly into the blood and can then spread to other parts of the body
such as the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, and central nervous system. Both
children and adults can get leukemia.
Leukemia can often develop quickly. When this happens it is called
"acute", and if not treated, could be fatal in as little as a few
months. "Lymphocytic" is a term that means that the cancer starts from
white blood cells called lymphocytes. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)
is a cancer that starts from these white blood cells in the bone marrow.
ALL is sometimes called acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
There are many different types of Leukemia and the treatment given and
the outlook for the person with leukemia vary greatly according to the
exact type of leukemia.
