^^Angel^^ Anthony - Quilt Finished in 2001

Born: June 16, 1994 - Passed Away: September 21, 2001

Illness: Ewings Sarcoma

Anthony's Quilt is finished and was delivered to his family in the fall 2001!   Anthony's Quilt was stitched for Love Quilts by a great group of stitchers from the webpage Cross-Stitch Addict.  Thank you all who stitched!

A Special Thank You From Anthony's Family!

(Sent via regular snail mail)

Date: 1/12/02

This letter is to Thank You for the time you spent helping to create such a beautiful quilt for my son Anthony.  I am sure he would have loved it very much, his brother Adrian wants the quilt, he thinks it is great too.  I want you to know that it takes a very special person to take the time to create these quilts for our sick and dying children, you are a very wonderful person and you are very appreciated. 

Sincerely, Jennifer H. and Family

Anthony's Story

written by mom Jennifer

Anthony was born on June 16th, 1994. He was 7 lbs. 9 ozs. and 21 inches long. He was a small but very healthy baby. He did not let size hold him back. He was sitting up at 7 months old and walking at 10 months old. He was speaking in full sentences by his first birthday. Anthony was always in a hurry, he knew his shapes and all of his colors and loved to water paint and color on Mommy's walls.

In July 1998, I took Anthony to the pediatrician for pain in his left arm. When I would lift him under the arms to pick him up, he would complain that it hurt. The pediatrician had me convinced it was just a pulled muscle and he would be fine in a few days. He sent us home with Tylenol.

By September 1998, he woke up screaming in pain so I gave him Tylenol and put him back to bed. The next day, Anthony had a large bump on his back, the size of a grapefruit. I immediately felt something goes wrong, so off to the ER. After 8 hours and many x-rays later the doctors came in to tell me that my son had a tumor and it did not look good. How could my son have a tumor? He did not look sick. I had no idea of the nightmare that was going to take place.

We then went to Orthopedic Hospital in Los Angeles, CA where they did a biopsy of the left scapula and put in a central line. Two hours later, the doctor came to the lobby to tell us he had bad news, that the biopsy showed Anthony had Ewing's Sarcoma (bone cancer). How could my 4 year old have cancer??? We knew nothing about cancer.

We were then admitted to City of Hope where we met Anthony's oncologist Dr. James Miser. Anthony started his first chemotherapy in October 1998. Several months later he had his scapula removed and he had 8 weeks of radiation. By January 15th 2000, Anthony was in remission.

In June 2000, Anthony was having bad headaches and leg pain. We went to the hospital, had all the tests done and they all came back fine. They said it was an ear infection and sent us home with antibiotics. On July 4th 2000, Anthony had a large goose egg show up on the top of his head. Tests were done and showed that the Ewing's Sarcoma was back. It was on the top of the head and in the left femur.

Here we go again... High-dose chemotherapy and 6 weeks of radiation. The radiation to the top of the head has left a large bald spot and his femur will never grow.

November 27th 2000 - December 28th 2000 was spent in the hospital having a Bone Marrow Transplant (stem cell). Anthony was very sick, I have never seen him so sick. He recovered well.

March 19th 2001 - April 22nd 2001 Anthony was having his second Bone Marrow Transplant. This one was spent in ICU. He had an infection in his lungs and he has not recovered very well from this one.

Since May 6th 2001, we have been in the hospital with a 104 fever. All the tests came back fine. They took out the central line but Anthony was still having fever and the antibiotics were not working, so they did a PET scan. The scan showed something was there so they did a biopsy and found that his Ewing's Sarcoma is back in the spine behind the left eye and in the back of the head.

Because of the great pain he is in, he is on morphine, he can't see very well out of his left eye and he can no longer walk. He started radiation to stop the growth of the cancer and for pain control. He is too weak for chemotherapy, so unfortunately there's no cure for him. We're hoping we can go home soon to spend family time together. Anthony is so precious to everyone and he is truly a gift from God. Thank you for taking time to read our story.

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Anthony's story was written back when he was added to MACS as a "Featured Kid of the Month". He passed away on September 21st, 2001.