Jeremiah's kindergarden graduation at Calvary Baptist Church, June 22, 2008
Welcome to Jeremiah's Page! The youngest of our six children, Jeremiah was diagnosed with Pre B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on April 19, 2005, at the age of 3. We appreciate your prayers to the One True God on Jeremiah's behalf.
Our journey into the world of childhood cancer began in March, 2005...only we didn't know it yet. Jeremiah had been weak and lethargic for a few weeks by then, and I noticed that every night, he would sweat profusely, and he felt warm to the touch. I began to take his temperature, only to find that indeed, he had a low-grade fever. After a week or so of this, I realized that none of the other kids had caught what he had, and on our way home from a homeschool convention where we were selling our books, we stopped at the emergency room at Washington Hospital in Washington, PA - about an hour from home - to have him checked over. The doctors there thought perhaps he had strep, and gave him an antibiotic. Two weeks later, he was no better. By this time, I took him to our pediatrician, Dr. Negrey. I told her what had been going on, and that I feared he might have leukemia, as he had all the symptoms, and that I had had an uncle who died from leukemia when I was a child. I asked her to test him for it. But, she looked him over and said she thought he was just fine, that we should go ahead on our business trip to the Philadelphia area, where I was scheduled to speak at a homeschool convention, and bring him back in Monday if he was still not doing better.
We never made it that far.
Within 3 days, Jeremiah had become so weak that he was sleeping about 18 hours per day. He was so weak that he could not stand, and had to be carried. He was yellow in color, and would not eat or drink. We decided to take him to the hospital immediately following the convention. But, as I returned to our booth after my last speaking engagement, I saw how much worse he looked, and we decided to just leave the convention and run him to the local E.R. in Pottstown, PA. We left our kids at the booth, and Keith drove Jeremiah and me to the Pottstown Medical Center. I remember vividly how I carried Jeremiah's limp, yellow little body through the breezeway and into the hospital, wondering if he would even come back out alive. When I walked in, I carried him over to the receptionist and demanded that they do bloodwork immediately. She took one look at Jeremiah and jumped up, almost dragging us back behind the double doors into the E.R. center.
After TEN tries of the nurse trying to get an IV into his tiny, dehydrated little arm, they finally called in the RECEPTIONIST to try. He got it in right away, and was so excited, he knocked it back out! A few more tries, and they had it back in. Jeremiah sobbed throughout it all, but was too weak to even cry aloud. That did not stop me, however.
After a short while that seemed like an eternity, the nurse came back in, along with some other nurses and the receptionist. I could tell from the look on their faces, and by the fact that they brought Jeremiah a teddy bear, that it was bad.
They told us that we were being sent immediately by ambulance to CHOP - the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I called Keith back at the convention with the other kids. They packed up and met us at the hospital in record time. I remember vividly riding in the ambulance with Jeremiah during the hour-long drive to CHOP while seeing our motorhome through the ambulance's back window, watching Keith and our other children waving at Jeremiah, as they could see him through the back window. He was so out of it, he could only stare off into space, surrounded by the teddy bear from the nurse, and the other one the ambulance attendant had given him.
When we arrived at CHOP, they immediately stuck him with another IV, and did a CBC. Shortly thereafter, they pulled Keith and me into a side room where the doctors scrubbed up to tell us that they thought that Jeremiah possibly had some sort of leukemia.
That was the end of life as we knew it. Our journey into the world of childhood cancer had begun.
After a few more days in CHOP, the diagnosis was confirmed. Jeremiah had leukemia, or cancer of the blood. In fact, his bone marrow aspirate showed 99% leukemia cells.
After 3 weeks at CHOP, which during Jeremiah's 12 year old sister, Haley, and I stayed with him while his daddy and other 4 siblings continued to travel every weekend to homeschool conventions around the country to sell our books (since this is how we make our living) and came back during the week to live in our motorhome in the hospital parking lot, since CHOP is located 7 hours from our home, Jeremiah was released on the day of our largest convention, in Harrisburg, PA. The cancer was now under control, but, he had put on 12 pounds in 3 weeks, and was having some other major complications from the steroids which had become part of his treatment, and 5 days after being discharged from CHOP, we were readmitted to the hospital that was to become out "regular hangout", Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, for 5 days, with kidney crystallization and other chemo-related problems. I remember taking him to the playroom there one day, where he saw his reflection in the mirror and buried his head in my lap sobbing, "I'm ugly and fat." Poor baby...the steroids were not a pretty drug.
As of now, Jeremiah is in remission. This does not mean his is cured, it simply means the cancer is diminishing. He will be in treatment for a total of 3 1/2 years, which is the standard protocol for boys with standard risk A.L.L. Things are looking better these days, and the Lord truly has been good to us. In fact, He has been so good, we would welcome you to read the "journal history (link below) to see just how much God blessed us during those "tough months" right after Jeremiah's diagnosis.
And, as always, we appreciate your continued prayers - we are not out of the woods yet. In fact, in the light of the total treatment protocol Jeremiah must face even WITHOUT any complications or relapses, we really have only just begun on this path...
Journal
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:26 PM CDT
As I was lying in bed just a few minutes ago, next to Jeremiah, who asked if he could sleep with Daddy and me this night, I was reflecting, as I held his little hand while he fell asleep, at the awesome power of our God, and how He orchestated each circumstance of our lives to bring us exactly to the place where we are right now.
Jeremiah's cancer diagnosis was no surprise to Him, for He knew it would come long before He even created Jeremiah. I'm going to give you a quick recap of just how God orchestrated the circumstances:
My husband and I got married in 1985, after having met at a health club where I challenged him to participate in the aerobics class I was teaching. He took me up on the challenge. That was the start.
In 1986, while I was pregnant with our first child, Kiley, Keith got a job at PennDOT, and developed a friendship with a man named Charlie Stahl. One afternoon, we stopped at Charlie's house, and I met his wife Bonnie. We became fast friends.
About a year later, we sat in Charlie and Bonnie's living room, and as I was reading a storybook to their 3 year old daughter, Tara, I mentioned that in just 2 more years, she would be starting school. Bonnie told me, "My kids are never going to school. I'm going to homeschool them." That was my introduction to homeschooling. Funny how things turned out - Bonnie never did homeschool, but that was the introduction for me, even though Kiley was only 7 months old. From that point, we knew we would homeschool - and have been now for 21+ years!
Homeschooling led me to seek out a math curriculum. At a homeschool support group meeting, a friend named Rhonda Cole lent me a demonstration video for a program called Math-U-See. I was hooked, and bought the curriculum. We loved it so much, that we invited the program's creator, Steve Demme, to come to our home and put on a demonstration to some friends (all of who ended up buying this wonderful curriculum that night!)
Later, during an interesting time of circumstances of which I will spare you the details, Steve Demme asked Keith and I if we would be interested in becoming representatives for his growing math curriculum. Since I was now expecting our 4th child, Evan, and Keith had been out of work recovering from arm surgery for 8 months, it was not a good time to start a business. But the Lord had other plans. He was setting the stage - orchestrating each step of our lives - for the future. After a night of prayer on the matter, we decided to start our own homeschool supply company, with Math-U-See as our first product. I won't go into the details of the next 15 years, as the Lord grew and expanded our business into our own publishing company, though we still remain regional reps for Math-U-See; but this decision to start a homeschool supply company was a pivitol point in our lives that we almost missed - and if we had, I shudder to think of what may have happened - as you will see.
You see, over the next 12 years, we traveled from one homeschool convention to another, all over the eastern half of the US. And through this lifestyle, we have gotten to know many other publishers and vendors quite well, as we see them every week at different conventions.
The day Jeremiah was released from the hospital after his initial 3 week stay at diagnosis, it was the day to set up for our largest homeschool convention of the year - CHAP. Since Jeremiah could not go into a building containing 10,000+ attendees, due to him being in isolation mode (due to potential germs), he and I stayed out in the motorhome in the parking lot while the rest of our family worked at the convention.
Several other vendors came out to visit during those three days in the parking lot. One of them, who shall remain nameless for his own security, was a man I'll call "Bob." "Bob" was a vendor whom we had known for 12 years. He knew about Jeremiah's diagnosis, and he came to give me the phone number of a woman who had been through similar circumstances with her own son, and found enormous help through a lady who did alternative treatments. I called her within the hour, only to find out that Sharon's own son had done remarkably well by adding these alternative therapies to his traditional regime. She went on and on about how helpful the treatment was, and I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to check into it. I came to find out later that the woman was "Bob's" wife. Yes, good old "Bob," whom we had known for twelve years, but had never met his wife, as she did not attend conventions.
Within days, we were in "Bob's" wife's office, and everything that Sharon had told me was evidently true. This woman has been so very helpful for over 3 years now, in putting us in touch with the right places, as well as helping us find what to do for and give Jeremiah to support him throughout his treatment.
And God knew about her all along.
As I looked at Jeremiah sleeping this evening, it ran through my head how God used this woman to save Jeremiah's life - for I truly believe Jeremiah would not be where he is today, were it not for this woman and the help she offered.
But then, I realized that there was much more to Jeremiah's condition today than just one lady.
It was the mighty hand of a gracious God, who planned our lives since we, Jeremiah's parents, were born, knowing how it would all go, each step of the way.
We are humbled and honored that He loves us so much that he provided each step.
Your gift will help millions of people stay connected with friends and loved ones during challenging times.
This page has been viewed 140340 times.
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.
