Kimberly

Kim was diagnosed with AML Leukemia on July 22, 2009, just after she finished high school. She'd been feeling well, just showing a few bruises when she went to Primary Childrens Medical Center for a heart surgery to fix a relatively minor condition she's had since she was born. A blood test before the surgery showed that her blood had been completely taken over by the cancer. They admitted her that day and began treatment right away. She went through five long rounds of chemotherapy, doing relatively well, with the exception of one infection that led to a very scary stay in the Pediatric ICU. She spent almost all of that time in the hospital, with just a few breaks to go home. By the end of March 2010 she was allowed to go home for good- officially in remission! She was so excited to finally go to USU Fall semester, and got strait A's in all of her classes! Psychology, Humanities, Family Finance and ANATOMY. Not a week after finals, at a regular check up at PCMC, her blood tests showed that her cancer was back. And thus began round two- Kim's goal was to make it to a bone marrow transplant. We had found a donor, so all that was left was to get her in remission once more. After three rounds of chemotherapy, her body was no longer strong enough to keep fighting, no matter that her spirit was. She will always be with us. 7:48 pm, March 31, 2011

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas! (Almost!)

Kimhas been doing well again today. She's been very tired, but not in too much pain, and has been able to avoid the Putrid Pink Puking Pail as of yet (I just made that up- she usually uses those pink hospital buckets when she needs to be sick).

We learned a little more about the bone marrow transplant today. Apparently, even donors that are already in the registry take three months to process, and that's just too long for what Kim needs. (The testing and harvesting time frame). She needs to be starting her transplant within a month or so. However, there is another place that the bond marrow stem cells can be harvested from- the umbilical cord donation bank. It's really a very neat process that I will go into later. These cells can be defrosted and ready to go within that month she needs. Again, we should know next week what they find out.

Kim has two more days of chemo, and then the wait for all of her counts to drop. Until then- Christmas! Dad got here today with a bundle of presents from our tree at home, and tonight we played Sorry and read Christmas stories. Tomorrow we are looking forward to talking with Mike, who will be calling at 10:00.

I really will get a few pictures up soon. Thank you all again, as always.

Love, Emily
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2 comments:

  1. CarolDecember 25, 2010 at 12:14 PM

    Kim, Dave, Julie and Emily, I am so saddened that you are in the hospital again this Christmas. Kim, my mind is flooded with memories of how much you have inspired us this last year. You were in the PICU unaware last Christmas, then bringing you home exactly one month later was such a wonderful moment. One of our highlights as a family this last year was participating in the Relay for Life. In fact, the picture Emily took that evening was on our Christmas card this year (we need to send you one). We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy talking to Mike. We are so grateful for all of you and pray for your recovery, Kim. I know that angels continue to watch over you. Love, Carol, Todd, Marie and Nevan

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  2. Don RawlinsonDecember 25, 2010 at 3:39 PM

    We haven't been following the blog lately and so we were surprised to hear about this. We continue to pray for your family. We love you Kim! The friendship of your family to us has been a treasure. Please know that the Lord is also aware of your challenges. We appreciate you so much, Emily, for keeping all of us informed. God Bless!

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