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Tommy Gresham Welcome to Tommy's Web Page. It has been provided to keep people updated about Tommy's condition. Tommy was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 21, 2001.
Also Please sign Tommy's Guestbook after you read his updates and take a look at his pictures. Tommy loves to see his new messages.
***GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME, ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!!!!!******
I just Love it.
Please Don't Forget to Sign Tommy's Guestbook. He loves to see his new messages.
FINISHED TREATMENT 8-16-04!!!!!BR>
** NEW PICTURES ADDED 10-20-05*******
In one school day 46 children will learn they have cancer. Leukemia is the most common form of pediatric cancer. Last year, 12,500 infants, children and teens were diagnosed with cancer in the US. Leukemia accounts for about 25% of all childhood cancers and affect about 2,200 American young people each year.
Acute childhood leukemias are also divided into acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), depending on whether specific white blood cells called lymphyocytes, which are linked to immune defenses, are involved.
Approximately 60% of children with leukemia have ALL, and about 38% have AML.
The ALL (which is what Tommy had) form of the disease most commonly occurs in younger children ages 2 to 8, with a peak incidence at age 4. But it can affect all age groups. Tommy was dx with ALL when he was 4 years and 10 months old. Which is the peak age.
The Light the Night Walk will be coming up sooner than you think. So be prepared I will start hitting everyone up for donations. Also we will have the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon for the CMC in May. So will be posting more on both events very soon.
If you would like to walk with us in the Light the Night Walk in October please e-mail me or post here on the website. Our team name will be the same has always “Leuka Kids”.
O.K. Everyone here is Tommy's baseball schedule. He is playing for the Cubs this year. Anyway here goes:
March 29th Cubs vs. Yankees 4:30
April 1st Redsox vs. Cubs 7:30
April 5th Yankees vs. Cubs 4:30
April 11th Yankees vs. Cubs 7:30
April 12th Cubs vs. Cardinals 1:30
April 19th Cubs vs. Redsox 3:00
April 22nd Cubs vs. Cardinals 7:30
April 25th Cubs vs. Yankees 7:30
May 1st Redsox vs. Cubs 7:30
May 15th Cubs vs. Redsox 7:30
May 17th Cubs vs. Redsox 3:00
May 23rd Cubs vs. Yankees 6:00
May 24th Redsox vs. Cubs 2:30
May 26th Cardinals vs. Cubs 6:00
All the games will be played down at the MVRA Baseball field.
Journal
Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:47 PM CDT Hey Everyone,
As I am sitting here tonight, June 19, 2008 at 9:40 p.m. I’m thinking about the past 7 years and what it has meant for our family. Some of you know the whole story from day one and some do not. Even if you do know it please respect the fact that I have to get my feelings out and this is the best way for me to do it. Anyway, on June 19, 2001, my mom and stepdad brought the boys back from Myrtle Beach because Tommy was not feeling good at all. I knew that something was really bead wrong with him when he wouldn’t stay at the beach with them and just lay around and did not really play much. So on June 20th I took Tommy to see Dr. Jackson to find out what was wrong with him. He poked and felt around Tommy’s belly and on his side and listen to his heart and breathing. Then he said that they needed to run some blood test. That he thought Tommy had some kind of blood infection or he was anemic. So we had to go to Mullins Lab beside the hospital in Aiken. That was around 4:00 p.m. on a Wednesday. So I figured we would not hear from them until Thursday morning. So we went to the shop and picked up Matthew and headed home because it was time for Emily’s feeding. Which by the way she was only 12 days old. So I cooked a big dinner that night with some of the boy’s favorite foods (cube steak, Mash potatoes/gravy, green beans and rolls.) Anyway Billy came in around 7:00 from work and Tommy had fell asleep on the floor on a pallet beside Emily in her little sit. So Billy, Matthew and I sat down to eat and the phone rang around 7:15 p.m. It was Dr. Jackson and he said that we need to take Tommy over to the Children’s Medical Center at MCG. He needed a blood transfusion, his iron was dangerously low and he was extremely anemic. He said we had one hour to get there and that we would be admitted and to ask to see the hemo/onc doctor. (which is the blood doctor). I had no idea at that moment what that meant. So we packed Emily and Matthew an overnight bag to stay with Billy’s parents and packed me and Tommy an overnight bag for the hospital. Then Billy drove us over there. We both made several phone calls on the way over to grandparents, cousins, and some very very good friends (Chris & Renee, which Chris was in the hospital also). Once we got there, Daniel and Mitzi meet us there and they took a blood sample from Tommy then took us upstairs onto the 5th floor. (this is the pediatric cancer patient floor.) Daniel tried to give blood for Tommy since he has the same type but they said that would not work because it has to go through the filter process and Tommy could not wait. So Daniel and Mitzi left around 10:30 or so and then around 11:15 our pastor at the time Charles Maney came in and stayed with us. Dr. Sabio came in right after Charles got there and said he needed to tell us what to expect during the night and the next day. He asked how long had Tommy being doing very little as far as playing. And we told him that he had been playing pretty much like every other 4 ½ year old boy running wild. He said he didn’t understand that because Tommy’s hemoglobin (iron) was 4. And the normal is 12 to 15. And that he was knocking on death’s door. Then he proceeded to tell us that in Tommy’s white blood cell count that there were some blast cells and that they suspected that he had Leukemia. So during the night he would receive 3 blood transfusions then after that he would go into surgery to have a bone marrow aspiration and a spinal tap. They both would help determine if he defiantly had Leukemia and which type he had. Charles stayed there with us for about another hour or so and then he left. The nurses started at 12:00 trying to get an IV into Tommy put because his iron as so low they had a very very hard time getting one in. It took 1 ½ hours for them to finally get it in him. Because he kept getting so upset. And he hated the hospital bed. I had to lay in it with him with my legs draped across him and then Billy was on top of them. That was the only way we could get him still so they could get the IV in. Once they did that Tommy wanted me to stay in the bed with him. Billy was not sure of that since I had just had Emily and was still very sore from that. But I did it anyway. So on Thursday June 21, 2001 we watched as they gave our son medicine to relax him and then medicine to put him to sleep and then we had to leave him for the first time ever in a strange room with strangers. That was so hard for us to do. Anyway they came out afterwards and got Billy and I and we went to recover with him and then they took us and the whole family (which was a lot because Billy’s parents, my dad, my mom & step dad, my sister, some friends from church and Billy’s papa were there) back upstairs to Tommy’s room. Anyway, around 6:00 p.m. Dr. Suh came into the room and asked Billy and I to go down to the end of the hall at the windows and talk with him. As we sat down we both knew that when we stood up our lives would never be the same. Dr. Suh started with “Your life as you have known it will never be the same. This will totally consume your life for a while.” Then he told us the words I will never forget “Your son has cancer.” In those four words our world came crashing down around us. He said that Tommy had Leukemia. That he had ALL, which is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) He had the best type to have. Because they have had a good cure rate for that type. He said that his white blood cell count was 58,000. Which meant that over ¾ of his white blood cells were leukemia cells. And that the Leukemia had attacked his liver and spleen. His liver was enlarged and so was his spleen. He would start on chemo immediately and on Friday they would do another spinal tap with chemo and also put in a port-a-cath. He said that we needed to realize that this was going to be a very long and hard road and that going through this would either make our marriage stronger or it would destroy it. It would be up to us. After we sat there a few minutes then Billy just fell all to pieces and Dr. Suh went and made copies of all the paper work about Tommy’s treatments, and his cancer. I stood up and went to the hospital room door and Daniel and Mitzi came walking up and Billy’s parents were there. His mom looked at me and said what did they say? And then my Mom looked at me and asked the same thing as well as Daniel and I could not get it out. I didn’t want to say those four horrible words. So I gave Daniel the papers and motion for Billy’s parents to get to Billy and then as Daniel started reading the diagnosed I began to get really weak like I was going to pass out. Someone not sure who got a wheelchair for me. And then Dr. Suh came back over and asked if we wanted him to tell the family everything. I told him yes, because I knew that Billy couldn’t and neither could I so he did. Then after we all calm down some we went into the room with Tommy and Dr. Suh helped us to tell Tommy what was wrong with him. He said “Tommy you have cancer bugs in your body and so we are going to give you some yucky medicine for several years to kill those cancer bugs and make sure they don’t come back. But the medicine will make you feel very sick and you will lose your hair. Then he asked Tommy if he had any questions. And of course Tommy did. First and foremost he wanted to find out if Dr. Suh was still going to buy him some chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and then also he wanted to find out what color would his hair come back? Dr Suh asked him what color did he want and he said I want red like Clifford the big red dog or blue like blues clues. Everyone just laughed to hear how a young child responded to hearing he would loose his hair and become even sicker than he already was.
Billy and I both had stayed at the hospital since we arrived on Wednesday night and neither of us had seen Matthew or Emily. But we still didn’t go home yet. On Friday morning they took Tommy to surgery to place to port-a-cath in his chest and also do a spinal tap with methotrexate. Anyway, our pastor went back with us to take Tommy back. He would not go. He kept screaming and crying and he held onto me for dear life. He wrapped his little legs and arms around me so tight that neither Billy nor Charles could get him loose. It was breaking mine and Billy’s heart. Finally the nurse went and got Dr. Betts, which is the anestholisist. He gave Tommy some of the white medicine in his IV that ended up making him start to fall asleep in my arms and that was the only way they could get him from being wrapped around me. And even as they walked him back to the O.R. he was still crying for me and his Daddy. The nurse stayed out there with us and Charles and we all just hugged and if I remember correctly all four of us were crying. It was one of the hardest and most difficult things we have ever had to do. I don’t ever want to go through someone having to basically reap my child out of my arms again. Anyway after the surgery and Tommy got to his room my Mom took me to the house to get Matthew and also some changing of clothes for me and Billy. As we had not been home since Wednesday. We took Matthew back to the hospital and Billy and I sat outside the room with him and told him what was wrong with his brother. Matthew took it like a trooper. He is such a great Big brother. Because he came up there everyday just about it with someone and played games with Tommy and watched movies with him. And once we finally brought Tommy home Matthew would take him outside and play with him in the yard. I remember thinking one night not very long after Tommy was diagnosed that I didn’t understand how God could bless us with a beautifully healthy baby girl on June 8th and then on June 21st basically tell us we may loose our son. At first I was anger that this had happen but then I realized that God allowed this to happen for a reason. And we are not to question him just to follow him and do as he tells us. And so after that I always tried to remember that with prayer and God that Tommy would be o.k. And so would we.
So here we are 7 years later. Emily is know 7 years old and Tommy had been off treatment for 3 years and 10 months. Coming off treatment was very hard at first. Because those doctors appointments was our security. We always knew what Tommy’s blood counts looked like. But know we only go every 6 months. And yes when Tommy becomes an adult he will have to always be checked at least once a year but hopefully he will be fine. Through this all I believe that it has made our family stronger. And I know that my faith in God has grown. Because without him you cannot function.
O.k. I’m well aware that this is the longest journal entry that I have done on here. So I hope that everyone knows how lucky they are after reading this if your child has never had cancer or anything else life threating. Just how lucky you really are. Please never take your children for granted. They may not be here tomorrow. Thank you all for all of your love, prayers and support over the past 7 years.
Love,
Dawn
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Patient Room: Tomdo's Rm. MCG Children's Medical Center
1446 Harper St.
Augusta, Ga. 30912-3730
706-721-5100
Links: http://www.acor.org All-Kids - place where parents of children with ALL post messages.
http://www.smilequilts.com/tommy.html
www.chemoangel.com you can become a chemo angel for a chid with cancer
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