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Hello everyone. We thought we needed to make a post midweek to keep you up-to-date with what is happening with our family. Benjamin is doing very well. He’s toddling all over the place and has a total of six teeth now. He’s beginning to say a few words as well.

What’s with the title of this post? Well, it is difficult news to share with you all…This Tuesday, Allyson was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a type of cancer of the bone marrow. This was devastating news for us that really came out of left field. It all started with a limp on Christmas Day. Since then we’ve been back and forth from various doctors. Finally, after a visit to the doc Monday afternoon, we thought she had a “toddler fracture” that an x-ray wasn’t able to pick up. She was scheduled for a bone scan on this Monday. We were hoping the scan would see the fracture. New blood work was also done. Her pediatrician called us Monday evening saying the limp combined with questionable blood work was cause for concern. She had her husband, a pediatric oncologist look at the blood work as well. Together they felt Allyson should have a bone marrow biopsy done because they were fearful it might be cancer. - To make a long story short, Allyson was finally diagnosed with leukemia on Tuesday.

She began chemotherapy treatment immediately and will continue for the next two and a half years. This first month will be the most difficult as the most aggressive treatment happens now. We are hopeful for a cure as her doctors say this kind of leukemia is treatable and highly curable. Her body was in good shape medically as we began treatment, and that was good news to hear. There is no cancer in her blood or spinal cord at this time either - also very good news.

We ask for your thoughts and prayers for Allyson and our family as we begin the long journey though her treatment. We have every confidence in her doctors that that they will provide proper treatment for her and she will be cured.

Keep checking for updates.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 04:16 and is filed under Adoption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.