Tanya R. - Quilt Finished in 2005
Born: March 14, 1988
Illness: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia - High Risk
A Special Thank You From Tanya's Family!
Written March 26, 2005
Hi, I just wanted to say Thank You, SO SO much! My quilt is gorgeous! I show it off to just about everyone! The fairies are right up my alley, they are so beautiful, I'm so glad you thought of me for them! They now have a home where they are adored. The stitching is wonderful and I'm so thankful you got it to me before my birthday that was awesome! I couldn’t have asked for anything more lovely! Thank you so much!
Always
Tanya
Tanya R.'s Story
written by mom Cathy
Tanya Nichole was born on March 14th, 1988 in Northern Illinois. She grew up as healthy and happy as can be. She went to St. Joseph's School from Pre 4 through 8th grade. After 8th grade we moved far from all her friends, to Arizona and at that point she wasn't very happy. She made friends pretty fast once school started but she almost didn't get to start school on time.
That summer she had to have her first operation and first hospital stay ever for appendicitis, which was right before the start of 9th grade. After 9th grade, we moved from the East Valley to the West Valley (away from her friends again) as we had a new house built. But that meant having to meet new friends again! She once again did just that, met new friends again and was back to having a normal teenage life; hanging at the mall with friends, just got her drivers' permit, talking on the phone, going to the movies and hanging on the phone. Everything most teenagers do on a regular basis.
For Tanya's 16th birthday on March 14th, 2004 I let her pick one friend and I took them on a seven-day cruise of the Mexican Riviera. That is one cruise I will never forget and probably her neither. Tanya and her friend Amanda had the time of their lives hanging with teens from Canada, Florida and many other places until the wee hours of the morning. But the reason I say that we will always remember this particular cruise is because a couple weeks after returning Tanya became very fatigued to the point where she couldn't even make the walk home from school. That went on for about 10 days and I kept asking her if she wanted me to make her a doctor's appointment and she said "no" that what ever it is will pass shortly. Well, I thought she would know if she felt ill enough to go to the doctors so I didn't press the issue.
After I returned home from work on Wednesday, April 14th she asked me if she felt hot so I had her take her temperature and it was about 101° so at that point I made her a doctor's appointment but they said they couldn't get her in for a couple days. I had to run out to pick up my grandkids from daycare and by the time I got home Tanya's grandma (my mom) proceeded to inform me that Tanya had just gotten sick. So I told her that we were going to go to the emergency room and forget the doctor's appointment. At this point I thought maybe she had too much fun on the cruise and was possibly pregnant or maybe got mono? So we got to the ER about 7:15pm and by the time they called her to be seen it was like 1:15am, she didn't even want to stay there, she said "Let's go home, I'll be fine!"
Once back there I told them that I wanted a complete blood work and they asked me what I thought was wrong, so I told them pregnancy or mono, but Tanya promised me that there was no way she was pregnant. So they drew her blood and by this time I had sent my husband home to get some sleep and Tanya was sleeping in the ER bed. The ER doctor came in and said that he was really sorry to have to tell me this but she had Leukemia! I told him that it was the middle of the night and I wasn't in the mood for any jokes and let's start out with what it could be and work our way down from there. But he said that they were sure by how high her white blood cell count (+300,000) was and that they had an ambulance on the way to take her to Phoenix Children's Hospital. That is the day that Tanya's life as a normal teenager as she knew it ended.
She was at Phoenix Children's Hospital for 6 days initially and her new life of numerous clinic visits, pokes, chemo and a few other hospital stays began. Tanya is classified as High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and is following the 1961 SER protocol. Since that day Tanya hasn't returned to her school, she does homebound school and as a result her friends don't come around much. Some live too far but mostly they have resumed their "normal" lives. She gets an occasional phone call or a very rare visit from her friends. We have met some other great friends from the clinic and other organizations involving other children with illnesses though.
Even throughout all this Tanya has remained pretty upbeat, she has her days but she could blame her? We are hopeful that she will be able to return to school next year for her senior year.
Tanya should start the maintenance part of her protocol either late April or May 2005 and maybe then most things can return to a "normal" life as a teenager for her. Please keep Tanya in your prayers that the cancer stays away once we are finished with treatment so she can continue on with life as it should be.
Written by Tanya's mom Cathy in February 2005
