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* Erin Marie Phillips * 
Welcome to Erin's Web Page. It has been provided to keep friends and family updated about Erin. She was born on April 12, 1993 and was diagnosed with Leukemia (ALL - acute lymphoblastic leukemia) on September 14, 2001. On November 11, 2003, after 26 grueling months of chemo, she finally completed her treatment. The type of treatment she received was formally known as the CCG-1991 research study, experimental treatment 3 (double delayed intensification therapy). Near the end of her treatment, she developed another life threatening illness, anorexia nervosa, which we've found out is becoming more common in children following chemo treatment. She spent the month of December 2003 in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, to help in the treatment of this disease, and then another month from February to March 2004 at the Children's Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. Please keep her in your prayers so that she never has to live through these horrible nightmares again.
Photos Updated 09/14/2007
Journal
Friday, September 14, 2007 The following is from a previous entry during one of Erin’s anniversaries with minor updates. It still brings back a flood of memories that will always remain with us.
Today marks the 6th anniversary of Erin’s diagnosis of leukemia. Even though she’s doing very well these days, I can’t help but to think back and reflect on what transpired back on that life changing day, being only three days removed from September 11th. The time has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday that we got the call from our pediatrician saying “We got the results of the blood tests back…Take Erin to the hospital right away… We believe she has leukemia.” “Leukemia, what’s that? Where did it come from? How did she get it? Is she going to die? Is there a cure?”, we kept saying to ourselves over and over. We didn’t know it, but at that very moment, she and our whole family had become the newest members of the cancer world. A world of pain and suffering, extreme ups and downs, crying, anger, sorrow. The initial passage into this world would last for twenty six months. Twenty six months of injections after injections, going to the hospital day after day to get toxic chemicals pumped through her now very fragile looking eight year old body. Seeing all of her beautiful hair falling out while, looking up at us, she still maintained that beautiful smile. I would look at her and couldn’t stand seeing this being done to her. The “world of normal” had left us behind in its wake. We were left tossing and turning, spinning out of control in this new and vastly unexplored world. This new world brought with it an unexpected light which shown on the people that were around us. Some friends who we thought were friends drifted away, preferring to illusion themselves with the thought that they were permanent members of the “world of normal”. Other, who we knew only casually or didn’t even know at all, threw us lifelines that, without them, we would have been totally lost. They have become our true friends. The American Education Writer John Holt once said, “The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” We didn’t know what to do, or expect, but with the help of our family, friends, doctors, nurses, we’ve steadied ourselves in this new world. We can’t say we’ve made it out. It’s a lifetime membership. We’ve adjusted to it. We’ve learned from it. Believe it or not, there are actually some benefits that come with this membership. We’ve become a stronger family because of this. We’ve moved closer to God because of this. Erin, now fourteen years old, has become wise beyond her years. She’s done things and seen things that most people wouldn’t have in their whole lives. She’s met children through her journey that she’s talked to, played with, shared great times with, only to have their brief, but beautiful lives cut short. For them, they finally made it out of the cancer world. Erin, to this day, still wears a necklace given to her from her dear friend Dakoda, who passed away on February 8, 2004.
So here we are, six years later. The chemo treatments, her rights of passage, ended almost four years ago. Though there were two more months of hospital stays after that (cancer world members are not allowed to completely adjust to their surroundings), she only has to go to her oncologist once every six months now. She’s enjoying the 9th grade and playing on her high school’s varsity soccer team.
Scott, Joann, David, Erin and Caroline
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Reisterstown, Maryland
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