If you attempted to donate blood last week after I mentioned the extremely low supply, I thank you. A lot more blood is needed for leukemia patients than you'd think. I'm so thankful no one in my family suffers from leukemia.
I suppose
Tim, the 18 year old leukemia patient I've mentioned several times, is fortunate he is still alive. Lance Armstrong survived cancer and went on to win 7 Tour de Frances in a row so there is hope for a strong athlete like Tim. Tim recently was offered a
Make-a-Wish grant and could have chosen many fun things that would've made for great memories. Instead he chose to attend UWM for two years on Make-a-Wish. He started just a few weeks ago and things were progressing nicely.
As seems to be the case with leukemia, if it's not one thing it's another. The drug that was helping him survive chemo, steroids, were slowly deteriorating his bones. I'm printing another exerpt from his mom which appeared on the cancer patient support website
Caringbridge.org. It just helps to know of the need for blood products.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 01:05 PM, CDT
This is a very hard entry for me to write. Tim has been given the biggest blow since being diagnosed with leukemia. He was told yesterday that he will never be able to run again. The Avascular Necrosis has done so much damage to his hips that he needs to have surgery. The doctor is going to drill a hole in the neck of his femur to try to get blood supply to his right hip. He is also going to smooth out the ball and add some cadaver bone to the head of the femur. It is a three hour operation. He will be on crutches, no weight bearing on that leg for at least three months. If this procedure works, then he will do the left hip sometime in January or February.
I did ask the doctor if it could wait until after the semester was done but he said he didn't want Tim doing more damage to his hips by walking on them for that length of time. Tim decided to have the surgery as soon as possible. He has decided to take a year off of school and start again in September 2008. Surgery is scheduled for September 24th. He will be in the hospital for three days. I plan to take the week off and possibly two weeks from work.
I'll write more when I can think straight and not cry.
