Spencer Rocket Caserio

April 2009 - Spencer the cowboy in Arizona.

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Welcome to Spencer's web page. He loves all his friends and wants to keep in touch with everybody. He really appreciates that you are here cheering him on. On September 2, 2003, at 2 years, 10 months old, Spencer was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). This is a somewhat rare and aggressive form of childhood leukemia. At Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford he was put on an intense chemotherapy and radiation therapy protocol (POG 9404) that was to last 2+ years. Spencer quickly went into remission during a six week "induction" chemotherapy phase and we were 4 1/2 months into the 6 month "consolidation" chemotherapy, about to start radiation, when Spencer had an isolated relapse in his central nervous system on Feb 26, 2004.

This relapse forced us to abandon our old protocol and begin preparation for a transplant of some kind. His disease has shown that it has some resistance to the chemotherapy so a radically different approach was necessary. After a difficult struggle to get the leukemia back into remission at Stanford, we jumped ship the day we got out of the hospital and headed across the country. On May 5, 2004 Spencer received an Unrelated Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant at Duke University Medical Center. Spencer's transplant doctor is Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg who pioneered cord blood transplants in the United States. A transplant is the most extreme form of cancer treatment available but Spencer responded extremely well, engrafting quickly and with very few complications. We spent 7 months in North Carolina in 2004, returning home to Cambria just in time for Halloween. We have returned several times to Duke for periodic checkups. Spencer has done so well that now, 4 1/2 years after his transplant, he is off all medication (and has been for 2 years) and only returns to Duke once per year for his yearly studies (and will continue to have to for the rest of his life). It’s the least we can do. Spencer is truly a walking miracle.

And you may or may not be listening to Spencer Rocket's Song, music and vocals by Gail Swanson from Maui, Hi. She is one of many great musicians who write songs for the Songs of Love Foundation. Many thanks to them for Spencer's great song.

Also, for more detailed and specific info on Spencer's journey please visit:
spencerrocket.com

Sometimes you just run out of words, so here's a few thousand in these new transplant photos. You'll also find all the archived photos that have appeared on this site in the past.


Spencerdude shredding it up. Stoked.

Journal

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The further out we get the less time I have to update the site. Sorry about that, but at the same time, it is good news.

Big thing is Happy Re-Birthday to Spencer today. Today is his 5-year post-transplant anniversary. He is doing so great that we swell with pride when we think about it. We are so proud of him. He's an incredibly happy and sweet kid. He loves all the fun things in life and wants to play until the cows come home. Kind of makes it a challenge to get him to do the things he doesn't consider fun, of course, like homework and such. But still, he's great.

Speaking of school, he's just about finishing up with second grade. He's doing the California state testing this week for the first time. He's had a pretty good school year. He finished up what was probably his last year on the Mammoth Mountain ski team. He did a few races and overall had a good time. His skiing has improved so much we can't believe it. He's always been a good skier but hasn't been into the steep stuff much. But at the end of the year he was having no problem going down runs like Daves, Scotty's, Cornice, and Climax. If you know Mammoth at all, you know those are steep. Climax is double-black diamond. A bit scary as a parent watching Spencer go down that kind of stuff, but he was ready for more.

Recently Gramma Betty treated us to a trip to an Arizona dude ranch where Spencer had the time of his life. He played with kids all day, rode horses day, and basically just wants to move there.

Summer's almost here and Spencer's definitely ready for that. We've got to get back to North Carolina somehow for his 5 year checkup pretty soon. He'll be going to Lake Tahoe for sure, and to Baja again this summer. And he wants to go fishing pretty much every day. So it's going to be busy, even if we don't have the time and can't afford it. Should be fun.

Thanks for checking in.

Spencer & fam.

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

Patient Room: Home in California

Children's Health Clinic
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC

Links:

E-mail Author: spencer@sideoff.com

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