Jaclyn Petrow

Dear Family and Friends,
I have decided to update our Intro Message in honor of the new chapter we are starting. The past six years have been the most difficult and yet rewarding time in our life. When you hear that your child has cancer, there are no words that can come close to the sheer terror that runs through your body. What we never expected to happen did. But, along with the terror came an unbelievable faith and trust in God. We, as a family have been on an amazing journey this past year. Through our terror we learned that we had a faith that was so profound that it could sustain us through the darkest days of our lives. Our faith and love for the Lord is immeasurable. Our gratitude to our family and friends is incredible. We are blessed. We thank each and everyone of you for the prayers that you have been saying for Jaclyn. We know that you will continue to pray for her and for our entire family. Thank you.

Jaclyn’s Medical History

Jaclyn was diagnosed with AML on 10/10/02. She was first diagnosed at Morristown Memorial Hospital and was transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on 10/12/02. She spent her first 6 days at CHOP in the PICU (pediatric ICU) and then was sent down to the Oncology Floor. She finished her first round of chemo, achieved remission and went home on 11/18/02 and returned to CHOP on 12/02/02 for her second round of treatment. On December 14th. Jaclyn got a severe infection that attacked her brain. On December 16th, the doctors gave her 7-10 days to live due to this severe infection. We had every single person we knew praying for Jaclyn. On 12/22/02 she got worse and was transferred to PICU, but stabilized after a few days and was transferred back to 3 East ( oncology) on 12/26. Things remained stable and Jaclyn did NOT die but continued to slowly improve. On 1/18/03 Jaclyn went into heart failure and was transferred back up to PICU. She spent 2 weeks there and again was not expected to survive, but surprised everyone and pulled through once again. During that time, Jaclyn had a lung infection and had part of her left lung removed. We almost lost her again during surgery, but God continued to watch over her. She continued to slowly improve enough and on March 1 was transferred to the Seashore House for intensive rehab. On March 3,2003 Jaclyn had what appeared to be a massive stroke and was once again sent to PICU. We prayed throughout the night for the Lord to reach down His healing hands and He did. Four days later, Jaclyn was sent back to 3 East pretty much like nothing had happened. The miracles just kept coming! Jaclyn was then transferred back to rehab and started intensive therapies. We brought her home on April 17, 2003. At this point, she couldn’t walk, she had lost her hearing and most of her vision. But, Jaclyn was determined to get her life back. She started taking steps in September of 03. She returned to CHOP for her 3rd and final round of chemo in October and was able to WALK onto the Oncology Floor. Our miracle. Jaclyn continues to amaze everyone. She received a cochlear implant in May 2004. Jaclyn received a second cochlear implant in December of 2005. She is now a freshman and college and considerd cured! We know that God has wonderful plans for her. Please don’t let a day go by that you don’t pray for our miracle.


Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God

Journal

Monday, February 9, 2009 1:17 PM CST

Hello Everyone,

Time for an update. Although this one wasn't nearly as over due as in the past.

A couple of exciting things... first, Jaclyn has her first visit with Dr. Ginsberg in January. You may recall Dr. Ginsberg is the long term survivor doctor! We feel so blessed to have arrived at this point. CHOP, being the wonderful place that it is, made a big deal about it. Jaclyn had her picture taken for upcoming publications. They also asked Jaclyn if she would be willing to be part of clinical trials and testing for long term pediatric survivors. Of course, she said yes. She will do anything to help give any information on long term cure issues. Many of you may not know this, but 3 out of 5 children that survive pediatric cancer have life long disabilities. And 2 out of 5 have 2 or more life long disabilities. Pretty scary. But, that being said, we are thrilled she is now considered a long term survivor.

While we were there, we got to see sooooo many of our favorite nurses, Shannon, Meghan, Laurie, Alison, Stephanie Tracey, Danielle and I am sure there are others that I can't remember (I knew I should have done this update sooner)! It was really so great to see them. These women are so very special and really hold a very special place in our hearts. Honestly, they became my friends all the months that I was there. They held me up during some of our darkest days and we truly love them. Thank you ladies, we would not be where we are today without each of you!

The other exciting news is that Jaclyn, Nicholas and I were in DC last week with CureSearch. Yes, Nicholas has joined us in our fight against pediatric cancer. I am so proud of him.

We had 9 meetings throughout the day. For the most part, they went great. Some offices more then others understood our plight, but we plan on making believers out of all of them. The following congressmen have already co sponsored the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act... Rush Holt, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Frank LoBiondo, Steve Rothman, Chris Smith and Albio Sires. These are NJ congressmen. Please check your congressmen's websites and see of they support pediatric cancer. If they don't I ask you to please write to them and beg them to join this fight. It is so very important.

Otherwise, things are quiet for the most part. Don and I made an emergency trip to Virginia this past weekend. Jaclyn had a sinus infection and strep. She sounded God awful and needed a little TLC, so off we went. She seemed a bit better by the end of the weekend, thank goodness.

That is all for now. I will try to update more often with CureSearch and Congress happenings.

As always, we ask you to pray from the core of your hearts, that Jaclyn remain leukemia free, that her optic nerves improve, for Hope, Lizzie and all the children fighting this horrible disease.

Love and Blessings

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E-mail Author: mdpetrow@aol.com

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