^^Angel^^ Seth H. - Quilt Finished in 2008
Born: May 15, 1997 - Passed May 31, 2009
Illness: T Cell ALL Leukemia
Seth's Story
Written in April 2008
Seth was born on May 15, 1997, after a long night of labor. Until July 25, 2007, he was a normal healthy child.
Seth is your typical boy. He plays football and basketball. He loves to hunt, ride four wheelers, and is a member of the 4-H Shooting Club where he won First Place in competition.
Seth was sick a few days in June of 2007 and the entire month of July. He was sick with his stomach. Seth had nausea, stomach cramping, etc. He had lost about 10 pounds at that time. A local doctor diagnosed him with a stomach bacteria and began a strong round of antibiotics. He was unable to tolerate the medicine and things got worse. Seth just couldn't eat.
On the morning of Wednesday, July 25, 2007, the decision was made to take him to University Hospital in Jackson, MS. The Emergency Room doctor immediately stated he did not believe it was his stomach. On the drive to the hospital the worse you can imagine is a stomach ulcer, maybe Seth would have to be scoped. Never in a million years when the diagnosis of Leukemia came back that day, did we ever imagine.
The normal WBC counts is between 5000 - 10000, Seth's count that day was 259,000. He was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). T-Cell diagnosis is rare in that only 15% of ALL cases are T-Cell.
Our family would love to hear from other children who have been diagnosed with the same type of leukemia. Currently we have only been able to speak with two other families whose children have been diagnosed with T-Cell. Our lives have been changed forever. We found our Heavenly Father all over again and learned to pray unlike ever before.
Seth had a month long stay in Blair E. Batson Hospital in Jackson, MS. It was the beginning of his treatment. He has been able to come home and go back and forth for treatments each month.
Our Seth loves the mountains of Tennessee. We took a much needed trip in November 2007 to the mountains. We felt so close to God. Prayers have been answered for Seth. We can feel the support from all around the world.
Deer Hunting is a favorite hobby of Seth's. While home for Thanksgiving he was able to get a six point buck. Then a few weeks later he was able to get an 8 point. Now that did put a smile on his face.
The local newspaper, Clarion Ledger, had an article on Seth and his best friend, Hawk, on Sunday, December 30, 2007. Hawk was 5 years old when he was diagnosed with ALL. He and Seth are best friends. We can't believe how both children, who are best friends, the same age, from the same small community, have both been diagnosed with this horrible monster. We feel that Hawk went through his fight so he could be a survivor and friend for Seth to gain his strength.
Seth is our only child and has been our world since his birth. Please pray for our boy, he has the fight of his life ahead of him. But with the prayers and love of his family, friends, and complete strangers, we feel Seth will be cured.
Thank you for all of your prayers, gifts, cards, etc. And thank you for taking time to visit this website to put smiles on our children's faces!
Update:
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Our hero.......our sweet child.......earned his Angel Wings this morning at 11:41 a.m. Dawn and Chad were by his side holding his hands and Seth went peacefully. Seth's entire immediate family were there for him in the PICU waiting area, their home for the past week. We were blessed to have the chance to love and cherish our boy for 12 short years. His strength is beyond words.
Seth did not die from cancer. Seth died from complications of VOD caused by the high dose chemo and radiation he received before transplant. We believe if Seth would have gotten the difibutude just days before, things would not have ended this way today.
We fought for this drug........not the hospital, not his oncologist.....but WE.....family, friends and complete strangers. And Seth held on so hard......but it was just too late.
Please pray for Dawn and Chad. Such wonderful parents. Not once have they left Seth's side during his month stay. What a long journey they have ahead.
Thank you to each of you for your prayers, your text, your emails, your guestbook entries...the list goes on and on.
All our love
Seth Harris Family
July 6, 2009 Journal Entry
We could not open Seth's casket and did not realize this until the day we made the arrangements, so we had enough pictures and enough of his stuff that you had a feeling of Seth as you came through-we hung his nine point deer mount (which he never got to see) on one side of the casket and we hung a beautiful quilt made by Love Quilts (www.lovequilts.org) that Seth received in January, when he found out he had relapsed and he told us it was too beautiful to use as a blanket.
