Diagnosis: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Story: Taleah Stevenson is a girl FULL of spunk and personality. She has always been a healthy baby. People have always mentioned how lucky I was that she was rarely sick. Then in August 2011, she had a really high fever (104) on and off for 10 days. Her parents took her in to the pediatrician's office and they checked for almost everything- UTI, kidney infections, strep throat, etc...doctors finally ended up with some lab work and chest x-ray. The x-ray looked fine but the labs were scary. The doc threw around the word leukemia, but said that it was likely not. What were the chances right?! He took great care of us and kept us up to date and we appreciated that so much. We even had a pathologist look and he said there was no leukemia. I was so relieved. The 3 hour wait until that point was brutal. At least it wasn't cancer, and I could move on with life. She eventually got over her fever and was pretty much back to her normal self. About 3 weeks went by and she was a little whiny, naughty, and needy...but what 2 year old isn't? Her mom kept thinking it had to be the age. Taleah's grandmother mentioned her pale skin and some extra bruising, but thought it was just lack of sun and a roudy 2 year old. On August 25th, Taleah woke up gasping for air. She had been waking up more often previous to that night. Her Mom ran in and checked on her, seeing was struggling to breathe and decided to give her a warm shower to see if that helped the breathing. And it did. Although the next day she seemed pretty good momma instincts started kicking in, and had a feeling that she needed to take her in. The doctor there said Taleah had croup and were given a steroid medication to administer for 2 days. Taleah's mom mentioned her history and asked her to pull up her labs. When the doctor reviewed them, she showed her the skin color/bruising...the doctor suggested labs be drawn again (even though Taleah had done it 4 times in the past 4 weeks). Tests showed her red blood cells were extremely low and that they were going to have the pathologist look over them. The family then received a call saying that things weren't looking great and Primary Children's wanted us up there within 5 hours... I knew it was serious. Then we talked about ambulance ride or driving up... I voted for the ambulance because I thought it would be quicker...it wasn't. He then called back to inform me that it was Leukemia.. my heart stopped and I felt like I was in a different world. That night was rough. Taleah screamed every time the door opened, every time someone walked in the room, every time someone touched her and even in her sleep probably dreaming about someone poking her. It was heartbreaking and the unknown was almost more than I could handle. We waited and waited the next morning for the news...they came in and my heart dropped. I will never forget the moment when the Dr came in and erased the AML from the board and pointed to ALL. I lost it (again). Since that day, Taleah has endured several blood transfusions Chemotherapy treatments and surgery, still fighting strong and staying hopeful with her family. You can read more about Taleah's journey here
Taleah's Basket ready for delivery!!!
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