Stay Strong Lucas!

Lucas’s Story

At the beginning of April 2019, we noticed slight swelling along Lucas’s right temple. He had his 9-month checkup and I mentioned the swelling to the pediatrician. If it did not improve, she would have imaging done. Two weeks later the swelling had increased to the size of a quarter and was now hard. The plastic surgeon was unsure of what the mass was. After having an Ultrasound and X-ray performed the surgeon decided that Lucas needed an MRI and a biopsy of the mass. During the course of waiting on the MRI and biopsy Lucas started running a fever. We ended up in the ER due to Lucas having difficulty breathing. His breathing problems were from his high fever. Once the fever was controlled his breathing normalized. He continued to fight the fever over the next week.
On May 1, 2019 we went to Texas Children’s in the Houston medical center. We were expecting to be there for about half a day. After the biopsy the surgeon came out and informed us that the mass was extending towards the brain so they wanted to keep Lucas overnight for observation. We were admitted to the general medicine floor. We soon had a steady flow of doctors come in to speak with us. Leukemia was one diagnosis that kept being tossed around. It was decided that we would move over to the oncology floor.
On May 3rd while waiting for Lucas to have an MRI two doctors came in and officially diagnosed Lucas with AML m7. The mass that had been biopsied turned out to be a collection of leukemia cells. They explained that m7 is very rare and difficult to treat. It’s normally seen in kids with Down Syndrome, which he doesn’t have. They wanted to have a central line placed in Lucas’s chest the next week and begin chemo as soon as it was placed. This was also the day that we were moving into our new house. We are very thankful for all of the family that helped us to move and direct the movers of the weekend. They also helped to prepare our old house to be sold. Lucas began 10 days of chemo the following week. He also received 6 lumbar punctures which each required him to be sedated. During the first induction he was in the hospital from May 1st through May 31st. He was finally able to go home to his new house and enjoy spending time with his family. Once his counts recovered enough Lucas had a PET SCAN to look at the mass on his right temple. He also had a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration and lumbar puncture. The results from these tests showed the mass looked like it was dying. The aspiration showed .02% leukemia remaining which is considered to be remission. The doctor was very pleased with these results especially for a kid with m7. At this point the doctors were tossing around the idea of Lucas just doing chemo and not transplant.
Lucas began his second induction on June 12th. From the start there were problems. The nurses were worried about the central line, they felt that it was starting to come out. They used a special dressing to help hold it in place. The next week when the dressing was changed it was discovered that the site was infected. They started treating the infection but it continued to worsen. They opted to surgically remove the line and treat the infection. The line was replaced within 3 days. It was very nerve racking to have the line replaced because his ANC numbers were at 10. A healthy person normally has an ANC of at least 1500. After coming out of surgery he had a barking sounding cry. The barking noise progressively worsened and turned into Croup and an Upper Respiratory Infection. After several breathing treatments things finally start to improve. During this time, we also celebrated Lucas’s 1st birthday with family and friends at the hospital. He had a lot of fun with so many people being around to love on him. We were finally discharged home on July 6th. We tried to enjoy every minute of our time home with Lucas. He started walking unassisted while at home. His energy level has been amazing.
On July 12th Lucas went in for another bone marrow biopsy and aspiration along with a lumbar puncture. Once again, they had difficulty getting a good bone marrow sample because of Lucas’s small size. The sample they did get and the aspiration showed no leukemia. Initially talking with the doctor, she was leaning towards just continuing with chemo. After speaking with her team and other colleagues it was decided that Lucas would be sent for a bone marrow transplant. They feel that his highest chance to be cured is by going through transplant. They think that if they can completely wipe out the leukemia through a 3rd round of chemo then send him to transplant he will have an improved, healthier immune system once he receives the transplant. For transplant he would be in the hospital for approximately 45 days, depending on how fast his counts recover. He is not allowed to have visitors during this time because he will have no immune system.  He will go through very intense chemo to completely kill his bone marrow prior to transplant. The transplant is then performed. It is basically like receiving a blood transfusion except it is bone marrow. There are a lot of risks that come with transplant. We are still waiting at this time to talk to the BMT doctor.
The journey to a cure has gotten a little tougher but Lucas is one strong little kid. Through this whole process he has been laughing and smiling. Even on his worst days he manages to smile. Everyone that has met him has fallen in love with him. He is our little warrior baby. #LucasStrong