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Madison Smith's Website - Viewing Journal - Saturday, May 3, 2008 2:22 AM
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 - Saturday, May 3, 2008 2:22 AM







Madison Smith Madison Smith


Journal May 3, 2008

Hats Off to Plain View Elementary School Students!!!!!! Me, Madi, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society think you rock! Thank you for your support during this campaign. Your results have been amazing!

I’m not sure what date the website will auto-populate that I posted this but you should know that the date that my entry says is correct. Also the time is never even close to being right. So if you see 4 A.M. or something, don’t worry it’s not the real deal!

Well yesterday marked a week ago that Madison went to Duke for a procedure to determine if she had any blockages in her veins running to or from her heart. As many of you know that day we discovered that she definitely has an obstruction. What they saw was more extensive than what they had really expected. At this point they know she has an obstruction. They know that from the abnormal way her left innominate vein is running to her heart. What they don’t know is exactly how long the obstruction is and where it actually starts. They suspect that it may start in her left internal jugular vein for which they were unable to see clearly during that procedure.

After much thought and discussion her Cardiologist has ordered a MRI also known as a MRV (the V stands for Vein) of the veins in her neck. They would like to put a catheter in through her neck to essentially explore what they find. Because what they’ve already seen is more extensive than hoped for they want to start with the least invasive approach. We feel good about taking this approach. Once they can clearly identify the extent of what were dealing with they will then be able to assess what some possible solutions are.

Madison goes Wednesday afternoon the 7th for this. We do not have an appointment with her Cardiologist that day. The appointment is only for the MRV. We should then have more information in a few days. In a way, I am prepared for it to take a little longer as they will likely send their findings over to the Dr. at Texas Children’s and he’ll have to review them and get back with our Dr. with his thoughts. Stuff like this always seems to take forever but usually it just seems like forever because it’s your child and you want to know now. The reality is that we’ve never had to wait too long for answers. I want them to be sure and take the time they need.

Madi has been a little droopy this week. Her head has bothered her quite a bit this week and she seems pretty fatigued. We’re hoping she can rest a little this weekend. Thank you for your continued prayers for Madi and our family. We appreciate your concern.




Dear family and close friends,

I am writing because I need your help and I think family and friends are a great place to start. I have been named Girl of the Year by the Leukemia Lymphoma Society! I’m not sure exactly how I got picked for this but mom & dad say it’s because I was so brave when I fought this yucky disease.

Mom is running for Woman of the Year in my honor to raise money for the Leukemia Lymphoma society during an eight week program that runs until June 2, 2008. The money raised goes to support the society in finding ways to make people better when they get this disease and to help families of people that have the disease.

Please help me and my mom make a difference. My mom says that God’s grace, and research done by Leukemia Lymphoma society is why my doctors at Duke knew how to make me better. We’re happy about that!

If you would like to help, your contributions are completely tax deductible. You can donate with your credit card by visiting The Leukemia Lymphoma Society website at www.lls.org/ncemwoy, or return a check made payable to The Leukemia Lymphoma Society and mail to the address listed below before June 2, 2008. In doing so, you are helping the society in hopes they will one day find a cure for this disease. You can give in memory of a loved one that had the disease, in honor of someone important to you that is fighting the disease, or just because you are healthy and are thankful for that. Thank you for thinking about it because we really need your help and every dollar counts whether big or small!

Madison Smith

Checks can be mailed to:

Allison Smith for Woman of the Year
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
401 Harrison Oaks Blvd., Ste. 200
Cary, NC 27513

Your help with this is a greatly appreciated! We are in need of ten items of value or something that may be hard to get. These items will be used to auction off at the final event on June 2nd. If you can provide one of these or know someone who would be able to donate something like this please contact me. Some examples would be autographed game balls, weekend getaways to the beach or the mountains, sports game tickets, concert tickets, rounds of golf at a nice green, Spa packages from Spa’s in the greater Raleigh area, a beautiful hand-made quilt, a gas grill. These are just suggestions, any and all items will be greatly appreciated! Your generosity is amazing!

To learn more about the whole campaign or make a donation go to: www.lls.org/ncemwoy

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