Jacob C. - Quilt Finished in 2005
Born: April 30. 1998
Illness: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Severe Asthma, Severe Migraines
A Thank you from Jacob's Family!
Written December 11, 2005
Oh, it's so beautiful, Thank you so much we have been waiting for this so long. It's more beautiful then I ever thought, you all have done such great work and so much love and care went into this for him. We thank you from our hearts and wish you all such happeness in your lives as you put into ours. God Bless all of you!! When Jaocb saw his Quilt the smile on his face was great and he went right to bed a whole hour early to sleep with it!! This quilt means alot to him thank you. Ok I know i took so many phots but hes so happy and cute dont you think? lol so ill let you pick the ones for the alblum.
Huggss
God Bless to ALL
Candace, Jaocb C.
Jacob C.'s Story
written by mom Candace
A journey - My then 3 year old son, began a journey that no one should ever have to endure. It began with fevers one night and moaning through several nights. I knew in my heart something was wrong.
As he laid on the couch on Easter Sunday 2002, I had made plans many months in advance to take my kids to my friend Kim's home for the day. As Easter came, I knew we weren’t going to make it. I called Kim and told her that Jacob was still having the wild fevers. She told me to come anyway and that she would help me take care of him. It was a special day and I didn't want my other kids to miss out on Easter so when Jacob's fever went down from 103° to 101°, we went, but we were not planning on staying there for too long.
When we arrived, Kim was surprised at how pale Jacob was. I did not notice it because I was with him all the time. A while later, Jacob began whinnying and wanting to go home. Kim took his temperature and it was 104°. Then kept going up and when it read 105°, Kim explained that he could have seizures at anytime so we had to take him to Urgent Care.
Arriving at the urgent care in Canton, the doctor took some blood, gave him oxygen, hooked him to a heart monitor and did some x-rays. The doctor returned with the results a while later, and told me that Jacob was very sick and that we needed to transport him to U of M Hospital. He said that Jacob was lucky to be alive, that his heart was pounding for about 5 people, that his liver was enlarged and that he wasn't breathing very well. He needed help or he wouldn't make it!
When we arrived at U of M Hospital, they took Jacob into a room and poked and probed him, but he just laid there not moving or crying just staring at me as if he was trying to talk but couldn’t.
About an hour later, a social worker came to me. I thought I'd done something wrong and they wanted to take Jake away from me. The social worker sat next to me and asked if I needed anything, if she could help in any way. Then, a couple of doctors came into the room. Then the word "Leukemia" came out of the doctor's mouth but I didn't know what it was so I said "Ok, how long will he be here?" No wonder they looked strange at me!! They said "It’s ok to cry" but, why would I cry? I had no idea what was wrong yet so I looked at Kim and she said "Candi honey, it's cancer but it’s a "good" type of cancer, he will be ok!" I looked at her and said "No way, they are wrong, he is healthy, trust me, just a few colds and fevers is all he has had, please tell them!!"
Jake was taken to the ICU for blood and more lines and tubing and his first spinal tap. The last 6 hours were like years and despite my pleas to God, it was true, Jacob had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and I could do nothing.
Days went by in ICU, on the 3rd day Jacob woke up saying "Mommy I have ouches!", I laughed for the first time not realizing he had no idea what was going on and I had no idea how to tell him. He was 3 years old so what do you say? The hospital gave me books on childhood cancers. All I did was read for 2 weeks in the hospital, of course I read it about 3 times too, it was scary to read.
On his 4th day in he hospital, he had a Broviac put in his chest where all his chemo and medications would go through, because poking a child his size would collapse his veins, so the Broviac is a wonderful thing, less pain for the kids. I had to be taught before I went home how to clean it. I was so scared because it's a sterile thing and if it gets dirty it causes him to get bad infections which can result in hospital stays or death!
When Jacob left the hospital, after about 2 weeks, before he could come home, our house had to be cleaned from top to bottom to help stop so many germs since Jacob did not have an immune system that helps fight bacteria like us. The first few weeks we had home nurses and daily doctor visits to make sure he was ok and we didn't need help with his care. He still had daily labs done by a nurse that came and drew blood for us so it cut down on his trips to Ann Arbor!! But we new we had to learn all we could! We did learn a lot but there's still so much to know. My older kids have been great and without them I could not have done it! "Thank you so much kids!! I love you!!"
Our long journey with chemo treatment goes until around April of 2005. Of course things have been hard. Lots of ups and downs, in and out of hospitals, infections and very low counts which makes it so no one can come in our home sometimes for weeks! Jacob cannot go out which means I can't either. It's very hard for the other kids to have to stay home all the time, no friends over and not being involved with the school, but the kids do very well in excepting it, not always, but most of the time.
Jacob is still in remission and doing good! Thanks to all who pray and love him to keep us going. Thank you, we love you too.
Written by Jacob's mom Candace in December 2004
