2 year old diagnosed with Leukemia today
 

A co-worker's 2 year old boy was diagnosed with Leukemia today..I'm so very sad about this. I work in a Pediatric Clinic, so it's extra hard when our doctors had to tell one of their own the diagnosis. It's hard anyway, I know...but someone they work with everyday..even harder. Two of the Pediatricians came in together to tell her and comfort and advise her. She's going to Little Rock (Arkansas Children's Hospital) tomorrow to get more testing and start treatment depending on what kind it is. The good thing is that its most likely ALL, which caught early has a very very good survival rate. I just hope it is that kind.
I want to offer any help to her that I can, but I don't know what is appropriate at this time. I know she'll be busy tomorrow with testing and all. Do any of you have any advice or experience on something she or her family may need help with in the coming weeks?
I can't believe this is happening right before Christmas...devastating!

:cry: OH GOODNESS!!! This is just tragic news!

I am not sure what the proper support would be from a coworker.
Does she have other children, family close by?

There is always the option of watching her other children while she goes to LR w/ this child....and/or house/dog sitting while she is away.

Help with holiday cooking/gifts etc.......

Oh Tiffany......so horrible!

Side note: I know one of our nieghbors mothers just passed away and her father is staying w/ her for awhile......I am making a complete meal for a few days to take over there. - as I know at this time, grocery shopping and cooking are far from their minds.
.....so something like that might be good since you know they won't be thinking about cooking!
Or gift cards to area food places, so they can quickly pick up some food.

Ohhh, this breaks my heart!!! I cannot imagine what she is feeling right now. I will be praying for her child!!! Keep us posted!!!

That's so sad. I will pray that everything works out. It doesn't seem fair that a two year old has to deal with this. :( So sorry. As for what to do or say, there is nothing. You can only say that you care and are thinking of them and I think it will bring them some comfort but I don't think there is much beyond that. Those poor people must feel like their whole world has been turned upside down..... :(

Oh god that is such horrible news. Sending prayers and love their way. It's one thing to find out we are sick but to find out our baby is sick is more than any parent should have to bear.

Praying that they have caught things early enough to do the baby good with treatments.

This is really heartbreaking news to hear and just before Christmas. Prayers coming that this child will heal ok in hopes also that it was caught early.:(
As for you, if you know her well enough, you might call her and offer to help her out in any way she needs you. You could make a nice caserole and take it to her.
You could also talk to your other coworkers and say lets all offer to make them something. Something that can freeze that they could use when they are busy with appointments and such. I have seen this done before. It was appreciated very much., pooh's mum
I am sure you will get lots of idea's from other yter.

Good Idea. I think I will ask around tomorrow to see if we can all come up with ideas, I know everyone will want to do something. They have a 6 year old girl as well. No doggies as far as I know. I tell you, this poor family! The grandparents just had a house fire 3 weeks ago and lost everything. Reminds me of Job..how much more can a family take??

That is terribly sad especially with the holidays coming around. Poor little boy I dont know what its like to have kids but i am sure its terribly difficult to find out one is sick. Ideas for help, you could help make the family meals and stuff like that thats what my church always does when people are in need.

How terrible. The only advice I can think of is there are several websites that are designed for children with cancer where you update the site with what's going on and people can leave messages. That way you don't end up making a billion phone calls, especially since people they might not know very well will want to send well wishes and help out if they can.

Oh how sad:( iam so sorry, my prayers go out to them all.

Lots of good ideas posted on how to help already. Maybe take up a money collection, medical expenses, travel, lodging, etc. will be tremendous.

My nephew died at the age of 5 with leukemia. I can understand what this family will be going thru.

I am sure anything that you do will be appreciated.

(I wanted to point out that Ronald McDonald House will help with lodging. Make a Wish Foundation is also another great organization.....my nephew got to go to a different state and meet the driver of the monster truck BigFoot and got to ride in it and everything.)

Maybe you could do a little research on other organizations that could help the family.

Been there...
 

Please tell her that the survival rates for ALL are quite good now! Something like 95%!! You have been given some very good suggestions.

My middle daughter was diagnosed with ALL at 3 1/2 years old. It took 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy and many hospitalizations, but she just turned 20 years old last month and is still in remission!!! :). We still go back to Texas Children's hospital once a year for check ups for late effects from the chemo, but we have been lucky. So far she has had none that we know of.

Please give her hugs from me and tell her to hang in there! It is hard, but it is doable! So sorry she is having to go through this, and especially for the child. But the good thing about her being so young is she won't really remember any of the painful stuff later. My daughter only has happy memories of having cancer because of all the fun stuff with Sunshine Kids, summer camps, etc. She doesn't remember the hospitalizations, spinal taps, etc. Thank goodness!

The biggest helps are child care for the sibling/siblings at home, so you don't have to worry about them, too. And if she doesn't have a video camera one to use on loan would really be nice! We took lots of video in the hospital, because we never knew if she would still be with us. All the love and support of friends is the best help to get through this. Another thing some did for us was to come and sit with my daughter in the hospital so my husband and I could get away for a couple of hours. That was nice. It is hard to just sit in a hospital room for days on end. A journal for her to record her thoughts and feelings, etc. is nice also.

Sorry to ramble, but this is something close to my heart. I am so grateful for a successful outcome. I hope her daughter has ALL rather than a less curable kind.

I am so very sorry, it always hurts to hear about a sick child. Please let your co-worker know that I will keep her family in my prayers.

Thank you. Wonderful post and very helpful. What a blessing that your daughter is doing well. I have heard that the success rate with this kind of cancer is very good and the younger the child is the better the outcome. He's only 19 months old...I thought he was 2 already, but 19 months is even better as far as outcome lets hope. I love the journal idea! We should hear what kind they think it is today. I will update.

praying for complete healing for this little angel and strength, comfort and peace for the family

OH NO! That is soooooooo horrible and sad! I feel like I keep saying this but honestly my thoughts and prayers really do go out to the little boy and his mom and the rest of the family! How difficult to deal with esp this time of year.

Oh Nancy! I did not know that!! :hug:

I am so sorry for that little one and his family.
Prayer's coming that the treatments ahead do work and he can
have a normal life.
Someone I use to work with has a beautiful 5yr daughter who was
diagnosed 10 months ago. She is going threw very radical treatments
and will be doing so for another two years. Being tutored from home
and can not go to school or any kind of activities. So very sad for a
little one.
She posts her updates and pictures on the web through Carepage.com
for all to see and continue to pray for her.
It's so very sad why these things happen to our young.
I pray the family gets continued support to help them get through
this most difficult time.

She will have a lot of help in the beginning, but it could be a really long road. Sometimes people forget after time has passed. I would make a calendar with people (co-workers) assigned to call at certain times. Two months, six months, a year down the road. There are web sites that will send an email reminder for events automatically. (like birthdayalarm.com) It is so nice that you want to help.

im sending prayers and hugs!!

helping ideas

cooked meals
gift cards to restraunts that have delivery or curb side
cash donations
helping hands for day to day errans, cleaning, child care..etc..

We raised over $500.00 today. One of the girls will be traveling down this weekend and hopefully have even more by then. Another friend of mine has a child who was treated for Hodgkins dz at Arkansas Children's, so I called her to find out what was the most helpful thing to her the first hours, days...she said something that would have helped her, but nobody thought of was putting some money in a cafeteria account there at the hospital. She didn't want to leave, and the food in the cafeteria was pricey. I called the hospital to see if I could do that for the family and the social worker I spoke with said they used to do that (they have a "kid card" system-family members receive a bar coded key chain card) but recent laws prohibit them from accepting "targeted" donations. This means money cannot be donated and put into an account for a specific patient, but you have do make a general donation to the hospital. Basically, even though they would love to do this to make it easier on the families, they aren't allowed to. So that was kind of a let down because I know they could have used it today. Our office manager loaded a pre paid visa card and over nighted it, so they will have it tomorrow. We still haven't heard what "kind" of leukemia it is...maybe tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and great ideas and kind thoughts!

Let your co-worker know how sorry I am to hear this. I will keep her and her family in our prayers.

Sending prayers to that family:hands: :hands: :hands: