Below: We met Kevin Youkilis from the Sox in September 2006 down in Boston.



Below: Nate and Mommy with Tim Wakefield and the World Series Trophy





Nathan is treated at Children's Hospital Boston and The Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. They are amazing. Thank you to the Boston Red Sox for all that you do for the Jimmy Fund.






Below: Age 5 months and newly diagnosed with leukemia




Below: Age 18 months undergoing a bone marrow transplant








Welcome to Nathan Hunter Wright's website. Nathan was born on January 30, 2002 pink and seemingly healthy. He went into congestive heart failure on his ninth day of life. Much to our shock and dismay, we learned that our beautiful newborn son had a coarctation of the aorta, VSD (hole in the septal wall), a bicuspid aortic valve and a mildy stenotic mitral valve. He was put on cardiac meds to counteract the CHF. Nathan thrived and acted like a normal healthy baby until we got the news that will forever change our lives. Nathan was diagnosed with Infantile Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with a translocation of 4;11 at 5 1/2 months of age. This disease is known to be extremely rare and generally lethal in infants. Fifty babies or less per year are diagnosed with this form of leukemia in the US. It carries a cure rate of 40% or less.

Date of diagnosis: July 19, 2002.

An early relapse was detected on May 14, 2003. They reinducted Nathan with high dose chemotherapy to get him back into remission and it worked. The cytogenetic testing which included the "FISH" test came back negative.

Nathan's FISH test in December 2002 showed 3.5% minimal residual disease. In May 2003, it showed 7.8% which is considered a relapse. It was a plus he went into transplant without evidence of disease because the less tumor burden, the better.

He received five days of conditioning prior to his transplant which included Total Body Irradiation and very high dose chemotherapy. He then underwent an unrelated bone marrow transplant with his donor matching him 12 out of 12 on August 8, 2003. Nate has far surpassed the odds thus far and we ask that you pray for his continued progress so that he may stay cancer free forever.

**UPDATE** As of August 8, 2006, Nathan is three years out from his bone marrow transplant. Please pray for Nathan as we are two years and counting from the highly anticipated "5 year cure mark." Thank you all for your prayers.

Journal

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 9:49 PM CDT

Hey folks! It's been way too long since I have updated. But as we all know in the oncology world, no news is good news.

Nathan is doing very well. We continue to see specialists to follow up with some of his secondary issues that he has experienced since his bone marrow transplant. He is six years old now and still pint sized. He weighs a mere 29 lbs. We are hoping to avoid growth hormones for as long as possible and just keep pumping him with Pediasure. Otherwise he is doing great.

Nathan had extensive dental surgery back in November. He was in the OR at Boston Children's Hospital for 2 1/2 hours while they pulled teeth and did a baby root canal. The poor little guy. :( His little mouth was a mess but he is much better now.

Julia and Madelyn are doing great. Julia is four now and Madelyn is two. They give their big brother a run for his money but they all play well together.

I promise to be better about updating his site. I will also update with new pictures within the next day.

Thank you for checking in on us. I also must ask a huge favor. As many of you know, Nathan will be cured of Leukemia this August. To honor that, we have assembled a Relay for Life Team. The information is as follows and my huge favor is that you spread the word. Let's find a cure!!

All of our love,

Becky, Chuck, Nathan, Julia and Madelyn

********************

Dear Friends and Family,

This year will mark five years since Nathan's bone marrow transplant and we have a built a team to honor him in this year's Relay for Life through the National Cancer Society. As you many of you know, Nathan was diagnosed at five months of age with Leukemia. Nathan will be considered cured of cancer this August. Please join us in our fight to cure cancer!

Our official website is:

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/nathansknights

Please spread the word!!!


Thank you all so much,

Becky Wright on behalf of Nathan's Knights

Event Date:

Relay for Life of Greater Manchester 2008
June 6 @ 6pm to June 7 @ noon
Place: Livingston Park in Manchester, NH

Read Journal History

Links:

E-mail Author: Mom2nateandjulia@aol.com

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