Salesi's Fight Against Leukemia
Donation protected
About a month ago, our lives changed forever. One Sunday, our second son, Salesi, came home from church complaining about a pain in his leg. It was so painful he couldn't get comfortable, couldn't put weight on it and couldn't bend it, so we made an appt at his primary care for the next business day. We managed his pain through the night, with over the counter medication until we could get into the doctor on Monday. The following day, we took him in; the doctor performed tests, ran blood work and did an xray...the tests and xray came back fine, so they sent us home to wait for the blood work. Late that night we received the phone call no parent ever wants to hear: Salesi's white blood cell counts were dramatically elevated and we were told to rush him to the hospital immediately.
Throughout the course of our subsequent two week hospital stay, the doctors perfomed multiple tests, bone marrow samples and blood draws which led to another diagnosis no parent ever wants to hear: Salesi, our beautiful, kind, quiet, sweet 7-year old has Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. CML is a slowly progressing and uncommon type of blood-cell cancer that begins in the bone marrow. It is incredibly uncommon for a seven-year-old to get it and it will be a fight he will have to do for the rest of his life. A silver lining is, Salesi responded well to the pill form of treatment and is now able to move without minimal pain, keep food down and attempt to live as normal a life as possible. We were able to get discharged and are now gearing up to fight this battle from our home.
We feel blessed in the support and assistance we have been given so far as we start this lifelong journey. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to visit, help, provide encouragement and pray - we have felt your love and support from near and far.
This account was created to cover the cost of our two week hospital stay and the loads of test done there, help plan for future hospital stays if needed but more importantly to help us afford the cost of the pill which is currently saving our son's life, and which runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. We appreciate any donation you can provide - this is a shock to us and we are trying to get to our new normal and support Salesi in this new fight. He is strong and such an amazing boy. Thank you for your support.
Throughout the course of our subsequent two week hospital stay, the doctors perfomed multiple tests, bone marrow samples and blood draws which led to another diagnosis no parent ever wants to hear: Salesi, our beautiful, kind, quiet, sweet 7-year old has Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. CML is a slowly progressing and uncommon type of blood-cell cancer that begins in the bone marrow. It is incredibly uncommon for a seven-year-old to get it and it will be a fight he will have to do for the rest of his life. A silver lining is, Salesi responded well to the pill form of treatment and is now able to move without minimal pain, keep food down and attempt to live as normal a life as possible. We were able to get discharged and are now gearing up to fight this battle from our home.
We feel blessed in the support and assistance we have been given so far as we start this lifelong journey. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to visit, help, provide encouragement and pray - we have felt your love and support from near and far.
This account was created to cover the cost of our two week hospital stay and the loads of test done there, help plan for future hospital stays if needed but more importantly to help us afford the cost of the pill which is currently saving our son's life, and which runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. We appreciate any donation you can provide - this is a shock to us and we are trying to get to our new normal and support Salesi in this new fight. He is strong and such an amazing boy. Thank you for your support.
Organiser
Manu Ilaoa
Organiser
Spanaway, WA
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