Eric LaManna

On Valentines Day, Roxy and I came into maternity triage to possibly start labor for giving birth to Eliana. During that time I had been waiting on some test results from earlier in the day to see why I was feeling so sick and worn out. 8pm that night, while still in triage, I received a call from my Doctor saying I needed to go to the ED immediately. After being urged by Roxys nurses, I was placed on a stretcher and taken to the ED. My blood counts where so low at the time that I probably shouldnt have been able to walk, or should have been in cardiac arrest. That night I received 4 red blood cell transfusions to keep me going. They brought in a team of hemotologists to try and find what was destroying my blood. They worked through the night, but never provided me exact answers.

Wednesday morning my nurses snuck me out of the ED and let me witness the birth of our beautiful baby girl. Unfortunately after about 2 and half hours with Roxy and Eliana, they took me back to the ED. Shortly after that, they told me I was being moved to the Wilmont Cancer Facility, where hours after meeting my baby girl, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

My treatment has required me to stay here since than and will continue to keep me here until a minimum of March 18th. At that point I will receive outpatient treatment for the next 7-11 months. Most likely I will not be able to go back to work until after that point.

Fortunately, Roxys parents have been able to provide an enormous amount of help to Roxy while I have been stuck here. This has allowed my mom to stay with me the entire time she has been up from NC.  I also have a constant flow of calls and visitors keeping me going. Luckily what I have is very cureable, its just a long treatment to get there. I will easily survive this disease and will be able to return to a normal life.