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Madison Smith's Website - Viewing Journal - Saturday, February 24, 2007 11:27 PM
Thank you for taking time to inquire about Madison and how she is doing. Madison was diagnosed with high risk T-cell Acute Leukemia Lymphoma 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. We've come this far for a reason and we will get through this new hurdle. 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 - Saturday, February 24, 2007 11:27 PM


February 24, 2007

Journal

Just when I think I’m back on a regular schedule of updating this site, I fall far, far, behind. Sorry for such a long delay! The good news is that I don’t have any ugly leukemic news to report about Madi. If I were updating real often, that would probably mean things weren’t going so great. She went for her first TWO-MONTH check up at the beginning of February and everything looked great. She now will not be seen by Duke again until April.

We have had some ups and downs over the last week or so. Madi, Maiya, and I all had some nasty stomach bug that plagued us with nausea, fever, and body ache. I guess that started about a week and a half ago and stayed with each of us for a day but then it took another day to recover. Just when I thought we were all better, Madi came home after school on Thursday with a temp of 103.8. I couldn’t get down any lower than 101.5 with Tylenol and then it went up to over a 104. I took her for the second time within that week and a half to the doctor. The first time we went they tested her for Flu and Strep. She tested negative for both. However, on Friday the 23rd I took her and suggested that they test her again and the poor kid tested positive for both Flu-A, Flu-B, & Strep. YIKES! No wonder she felt so bad. Although, were not happy she’s sick, her testing positive calmed our other fears of anything going on that would require an oncologist.

Madison has been working very hard this year in school. She is in the first grade and so far this year she has received straight A’s on every report card that she has had. We are very proud of her for that!

The Radiothon for Duke took place February 13-15 2007. This is where they broadcast live from the radio non-stop during that time to raise money for Duke Children’s. Madison has been a “Change Bandit” for Duke since the year she got sick. This means that we are committed to raising money for this event. Specifically, we ask for donations from friends, family, and well pretty much anyone that we can get to donate. This year we got Madison’s school behind her. Howard and I ran a little contest over four weeks leading up to the Radiothon. We promised that we would host a pizza party for the class that raised the most money each week. We did four parties and between the school and local friends and family we raised over $4400.00. Go Plainview School!!!!

Madi and I took it up Duke during the Radiothon and Madi did a great job on the radio explaining what she had done and why. She’s a good little talker, the people running the phone bank all clapped for her. I thought she was really darn cute!

Maiya turned three last week. Yeah, that’s right I said 3 years old! Doesn’t it seem impossible that she could be that old already? I was four months pregnant with her the night Madi was diagnosed. Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not! Specifically, it seems those tender times with her as a new baby weren’t what they would have been had we not been fighting such and awful illness at that time. You just do what you have to do. Right? Praise God that we are at the place we are now and can make up for it.

I would like to ask for prayer for a special family that we know through Duke and had further honored at the benefit for Road to Life. The Adams family is from Cary, NC. Sherilyn was diagnosed with Acute Mylogenous Leukemia in 2003. She relapsed at the end of 2004 then went to transplant in early 2005. She finally got to go back to school in the fall of 2006. Shortly after going back to school, her older sister Veronica was diagnosed with Acute Mylogenous Leukemia in 2006. According to medical science right now, this happening is not considered a remote possibility because Leukemia is one of the few cancers that aren’t genetic. Sadly, Veronica is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy now and at the beginning of February (when we were at Duke for Madi’s follow up) Sherilyn was there and has relapsed again. Laura, their mother is a single mother of four. Sherilyn is now in a very dangerous position. They found her bone marrow to be 90% leukemic cells. Please really lift this family up and put them on your prayer list at church.

Here’s their website if you’d like to check it out.

http://www.caringbridge.org/nc/sherilyn/

Thanks for being so wonderful!


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