Home Sign Our Guestbook View Madison's Pictures View Madison's Journal Archives Contact Us
Madison Smith's Website - Viewing Journal - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 8:00 PM
Thank you for taking time to inquire about Madison and how she is doing. Madison was diagnosed with high risk T-cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on September 24, 2003 at Duke Hospital in North Carolina. She had just turned three at that time. Leukemia is a blood cancer that is not believed by medical professionals to be inherited at this time. She presented with a mass in her chest that encompassed the majority of the upper half of her chest area. The mass was related to the leukemia. It collapsed her left lung and a portion of her right lung and was shutting off the blood flow from her heart to the rest of her body. She was in the pediatric intensive care unit for almost two weeks on a ventilator. We weren't sure then if we would ever have a chance to fight the leukemia. Madi is a true fighter and pulled through! After getting off the vent, Madison was able to achieve remission by the 28th day of treatment. She underwent two and half years of aggressive chemotherapy (protocol 1961) and radiation for the mass. On Christmas Eve 2005, a little over two years after her diagnosis Madison had a chest CT done that revealed that the mass was finally gone! Madison finished her treatment in January 2006. Children that have cancer are not considered "cured" until they have been off treatment with no-reoccurrence for five years. Duke has followed Madison throughout her treatment. She will continue to be followed by Duke. In April 2008 Duke uncovered that Madison has an obstruction in 3 of her veins. The veins involved are the Left innominate vein, the left (lower) internal jugular vein, and her sub-clavian vein. These veins are responsible for carrying her blood back to her heart and hers are 100% occluded. What is going on with her right now is likely a result of the mass she had in 2003. There aren't really any easy fixes for what is going on with her and no real cases that it can be compared to. We are working with Duke in an effort to resolve this issue. In February 2011, Madi moved from in-remission to "CURED" from her disease We've come this far for a reason! Please continue to lift all of us up. The care and concern that we have felt from all of you continues to be an encouragement to us. Thank you...
 
- Allison

Update - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 8:00 PM


Madison was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia Lymphoma on 9/24/03 after being air lifted to Duke Hospital. She had a large malignant mass in her chest that caused her left lung to collapse and was starting to collapse her right lung.

The days following her arrival at Duke the mass didn't shrink despite her Doctors attempts with steroids as well as chemo. As a result they sent her to radiation as the mass was starting to threaten her heart.

Since the date of her arrival she spent one week in Pediatric ICU at Duke before being moved to a regular room. After the radiation the mass began to shrink which allowed them to take her off of the ventilator because her lungs began to work again on their own.

Madi was released from the hospital on October 7,2003 and as of that date the mass had virtually cleared up on her right side but was still rather large but much better on her left side. It isn't jeopardizing any of her vital organs and her doctors claim that given the rigorous treatment that she has had that it is medically impossible for it to get bigger.

Since being released from the hospital Madison has been going back to Duke for Chemo 3 days a week. Thus far she has not had any sickness associated with her chemo and although weak has been doing well at home.

We had a hair cutting (shaving) party the day after we came home from the hospital. We felt that it would be less traumatic for her than waking up with all of her hair on her pillow. We prepared her for this by saying that we were going to cut her hair like Daddy's. She was actually excited and seems to like her new do and by the way she has a beautiful head!

Next Thursday October 23rd she will be having another bone marrow test and a spinal tap to determine if the Leukemia is in remission. This will mark the end of her induction period. Please continue to pray that it is in fact in remission. We should have her test results by Friday evening and will update this message accordingly.

Thank you for taking the time to check our site, please sign our guestbook.