Cameron Dalene 10/29/91 - 9/02/06

Welcome to our Cameron's web page. We want to keep our family and friends updated on his progress in this fun way. Cameron was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia on 11/1/00, just three days after his 9th birthday. He endured 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy threatments at Yale/New Haven Hospital and was off treatment on 4/22/03. We moved to Santa Fe, NM in July.
Unfortunately, he relapsed on 12/9/03 and immediately began re-induction chemotherapy. This time he was treated at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Abuquerque, NM. The doctors told us the best treatment would be to have a bone marrow transplant. Our family was tested and it was discovered that Chad was a perfect match. The bone marrow transplant took place at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on 4/1/04. We were back in Santa Fe, NM on 6/1/04.

After a clean bill of health from CHOP on March 22, 2005, Cameron got the bad news on April 11 that the leukemia had returned. He had to undergo chemo therapy, again to attain remission. He was admitted to Denver Children's Hospital on August 2, 2005 to undergo a stem cell transplant. He received Chad's stem cells on August 9, 2005.

After things were going well and Cam was home and looking forward to returning to school, a bone marrow biospy showed that the leukemia is back. He took part in a study at the Children's Hospital of Denver in an experimental drug to try to attain remission with less toxicity than the traditional induction. His leukemia was greatly reduced but he did not reach remission so we returned to UNMH to have the standard induction chemo. He did go into remission so the next plan was to go to St. Jude for another stem cell transplant. This time it will be with a haplo, or half-matched, transplant. Derek has been selected to be his donor.

During a pre-transplant work-up, it was discovered that Cam had a mass of aspergillus fungus in his left lung. It had to be removed surgically and followed up with intensive IV antifungal medications.

On April 24, Cameron had a major sepsis episode, had to be resuscitated and sustained severe pancreatic and liver damage. He was in the hospital for 1 month. During that time, he wasn't able to receive chemo therapy to keep in remission and he relapsed for the 4th time. At the current time, June 6, 2006, he is on another chemo drug trying to get him into remission. His liver and pancreas continue to improve. Cameron went to be with the Lord on September 2, 2006. we miss him greatly.



Genesis 28:15 "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Any tax deductible donations can be made to the Cameron Dalene Fund
First National Bank of Santa Fe
62 Lincoln Ave
Santa Fe, NM 87501

A song that has touched our hearts is by Mark Schultz and is called "He's My Son". If you want to hear it, go to
http://members.aol.com/sunnyasalways/SUNNYSHESMYSON.html

Journal

Saturday, October 23, 2010 9:24 PM CDT

WOw, it has been way too long since I have written. I don't even know if anyone is still logging on to this site or not. If anyone happens to read this, I'll update a little on what is going on in our life.

Sept 2, 2010, Ed and I were both home in the USA so we gathered close friends and family for a special time of remembrance of Cameron. We all recalled some special memories of him...we laughed and cried. It was precious.

We have a new focus, as well as our normal lives and Ed's work here in China. Well, we have had this dream for many years but recently it has come into focus.

Plans are underway to build a residential facility for Chad and other handicapped adults like him. The facility will be located on 60 acres in Mystic, CT. We have paired with another parent of a son with autism who we met here in Shanghai. He is also an American working here in Shanghai.

We are working to get some donations so we can purchase the property and get the project going. We also have been given a beautiful car, a 1989 Jaguar, that we will be having a drawing for in November. The entry tickets for this are $500.00 and the donations are tax deductible to the 501C we have set up for our organization. The organization is called C-ARC (Connecticut Autism Residential Community).
We are getting a web page going at www.C-ARC.org Donations can be made through that site in the very near future.
We are excited. Chad is a wonderful person and I have been privileged to care for him for all of his 24 years but he is getting bigger and stronger and I'm not getting any younger or stronger so it is getting difficult to care for him on our own. We look forward to having this home for him to help us provide him and many others a safe, loving, nurturing home.

Thanks.

Continuing to miss Cameron and to trust God

Hospital Information:

Our home
40 Twin Lakes Dr.
Waterford CT 06385

Links:

E-mail Author: ldalene@sbcglobal.net

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Note: The foregoing information was authored by the patient, parent or guardian, or other parties who are solely responsible for the content. Such announcements or their content are not necessarily endorsed by CaringBridge, Inc. or any sponsoring agent.  This information does not confirm that anyone is or was actually a patient at any facility.