Aubrey Henwood

Aubrey has been diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (also called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL), which is the most common type of childhood leukemia.  


We were on a long-planned, rare trip to Hawaii (it was only the second time on a plane for her, the first being when she was a toddler) when she became ill.   During the trip, she developed a fever, we went to a clinic where they urged us to go to the ER in the only hospital on Maui.  The did a Complete Blood Count and all her blood lines were very low - she was at extreme risk of life-threatening infection and her immune system was 'nonexistent'.    It was there the pediatrician told us she might have cancer, or Aplastic Anemia, or less likely a rare virus.  A few hours later they decided she needed to be airlifted in a medevac flight to Kapioloni Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu.   


With no warning Aubrey and Jill were gone, and Paul and Alia followed her the next day.   Her sister Alia was a trooper and helped everywhere she could during this difficult period.  The family had a very harrowing sequence of events to get to Honolulu, then to get her stabilized enough to fly to Seattle where she went directly to Seattle Children's Hospital.  She arrived late at night on Saturday November 26th, and we learned of the confirmed diagnosis the next week.  She has begun her treatment and faces a long road ahead.  The good news is that this type of Leukemia is very curable with a very high success rate, and we are in one of the top facilities in the world for this type of disease.  And, she is a fighter!