Benji Paulakonis

Welcome to our
CaringBridge website for Benji Paulakonis .
We are using this site to keep our family and friends updated in one
place.

On September 7th,
Benji was diagnosed with Leukemia after a series of test revealed he had an
abnormal white blood cell count. Leukemia is a cancer that attacks
blood-forming cells in the bone marrow. We were immediately admitted to UNC
Hospitals and have been under the care of an incredible team of doctors and
nurses. Since our admission, several test have been run to better understand
our leukemia type and the needed course of treatment.  On September 9th, we learned that
Benji has mixed phenotype acute leukemia, a form of leukemia where he has both acute myeloid
leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It is not very common
for children to have a mixed leukemia, so we have been working with the doctors
to design the best possible treatment plan. The current plan is to treat with
several types of chemotherapy which are most commonly used to treat ALL. The
first phase of treatment, known as induction, will allow us to see how Benji’s
body responds to the medication. It is likely that we will have to evolve the treatment
throughout this first phase. We are also awaiting some special test results that will
be back in approximately 2 weeks to indicate if one of the medications is
needed.  

 We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.