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My name is Jeff Flanagan and my daughter, Taylor, is now a 16 yr old Junior at Etowah High in Woodstock, GA. On October 28, 2010 she was diagnosed with AML, a very aggressive form of leukemia. Within 5 days she was started on extensive chemotherapy treatments. We were initially told she was going to have 5 total rounds of chemo, each lasting approximately 10 days and leaving her in the hospital for weeks with every treatment...but, she was the 1st in GA to only have to go through 4 rounds of her type of treatments. She was able to come home on Easter Day of 2011 and has been doing great since! My family and I thank everyone for all the prayers and thoughts over the last year! For more information on AML Leukemia, please see "AML Information" below.

Donation Page

All donations made will go to the Flanagan family to help cover any remaining out of pocket expenses for Taylor's medical bills. If you do not care to go through Paypal, you can also send donations made out to: Jeff & Ashley Flanagan P.O. Box 818 Holly Springs, GA 30142 Any and all donations are greatly appreciated, no amount is too small!

AML Information

"AML Information" - AML (acute myeloid leukemia) is diagnosed in about 20% of children with leukemia and approximately 500 children are diagnosed in the U.S. each year.

Leukemia is cancer of the blood. It develops in the bone marrow, the spongy center of the long bones that produces the three major blood cells: white blood cells fight infection, red blood cells that carry oxygen and platelets that help blood clot and stop bleeding. When a child has leukemia, the bone marrow begins to make white blood cells that do not mature correctly, but continue to reproduce themselves. Normal, healthy cells only reproduce when there is enough space for them to fit. With leukemia, these cells do not respond to the signals to stop and they reproduce, regardless of space available. These abnormal cells reproduce quickly and when they begin to crowd out other healthy cells in the marrow, symptoms of leukemia are experienced.

Symptoms of leukemia usually occur over a short period of days to weeks. Some of the signs and symptoms for AML can be tiredness or no energy, shortness of breath during physical activity, pale skin, swollen gums, slow healing of cuts, pinhead-size red spots under the skin, prolonged bleeding from minor cuts, mild fever, aches in bones, black-and-blue marks (bruises) with no clear issue.

Patients with AML need to start chemotherapy immediately. There are two (2) parts of treatment; induction therapy and consolidation therapy. The aim of induction therapy is to kill as many AML cells as possible and get good blood cell counts back to normal. When the aim of induction therapy is achieved, it is called a remission. Induction therapy is done at the hospital and most patients are there for three to four weeks. Combining drug types can strengthen the effects of the drugs and two or more chemo's are usually used together to treat AML. Most chemo's are given through a catheter placed into a vein, usually in the persons upper chest area. The first round of chemo usually does not get rid of all AML cells and most require more treatment. Usually the same drugs are used for additional rounds of chemo. Consolidation therapy is needed because some AML cells remain that are not found by common blood or marrow tests. Consolidation therapy is also done in the hospital and as with induction therapy, patients may be in the hospital for three to four weeks at a time.







Friday, November 12, 2010

October 29, 2010

The results came in today around noon as to what type of leukemia Taylor has. She has AML, the more aggressive form. Knowing that she has leukemia is bad enough, but now knowing she has aggressive leukemia and will have a rough few months coming up is even worse. Even though the doctors describe to you all of the side effects of treatment, I don't think any parent can prepare themselves for what is to come. You always expect to be able to help your child with any problem they may have...but this problem leaves me completely helpless. Althought I accept she has leukemia and it has sunk it, just the words "my daughter has leukemia" or "my daughter has cancer" is a hard pill to swallow.

Taylor's first question was if she were going to lose her hair or not. With ALL there was a high probability that she wouldn't...but with AML it is almost guaranteed that she will, and will start to within only a couple weeks of starting the first round of chemo. The doctors have said she will not be able to go back to school the remainder of this year, she will be at too high of a risk of getting sick. She will be able to go through a Home Bound program that will keep her on track with all of her credits and it is only 3 hrs worth of work a week...she seemed terribly disappointed about that part of it ;-)

On Monday she is supposed to have a bone marrow aspiration, spinal tap and have her lines (catheder) put in her chest, which is what they will administer her chemo treatments through. They will also be able to draw blood through the lines which means NO MORE I.V.!! She is excited about that part, she is so paranoid about her I.V. coming out and doesn't want to get stuck everytime they need to draw blood. So, for right now they are giving her plenty of antibiotics, fluids and blood transfusions. She seems to be in high spirits for the most part, especially when she has her family and friends come in to see her. You can tell it's a little harder on her at night when everyone goes home and it gets quiet...but we continue to send our prayers up and hope the good Lord takes care of her.
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