DESI

On July 5th, 2013, while preparing for a weekend getaway, we got the call from our family doctor saying that they had received the results from our son Desi’s blood-work, and asked that we come in as soon as possible. Our doctor gave us the news. Desi had T-Cell, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and they needed to get him to Sick Kids to start treatment immediately.

Upon arrival at Sick Kids, the doctors were concerned with Desi’s very high white blood cell count, and a large mediastinal mass in his chest. The doctors told us that the next 48 hour would be critical for Desi to respond to the treatments. The team worked tirelessly to shrink the mass in Desi's chest and to stop his white blood cell count from climbing, all the while maintaining his kidney functions.

Managing all three of those complications meant constant monitoring day and night. It meant triple maintenance via IV saline solution (triple the fluid normally needed). It also meant electrolyte blood test every hour to test for tumor lysis, and complete blood counts every two hours to check white blood cell count. The doctors were also watching his kidney functions very closely, and using a set of drugs to protect his kidneys. All that monitoring meant that nobody got any sleep the first two nights. Thankfully, with the skill and care of his doctors and the staff, Desi made it through those two days, and his counts normalized.

That was the beginning of our son’s (and our family’s) journey through cancer. When it was all said and done, Desi would undergo the high risk treatment protocol (including a more intense chemotherapy regimen and cranial radiation). We would end up spending one month at Sick Kids, before having his care transferred to Children’s Hospital at London

Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) as his primary care center, and Grand River Hospital as his satellite clinic, where Desi would finish both the front line and maintenance phases of his treatment. Desi finished his treatment protocol on November 6th, 2016 and we couldn’t be more grateful! Today, he is a healthy, happy kid, who enjoys swimming, soccer, playing with his friends, and playing guitar! We wouldn’t be where we are today, without the support of our family, friends, the great staff at Sick Kids, Grand River Hospital and London Children’s Hospital and organizations like POGO.

We’re proud to support and fund raise for the annual Kitchener Kids with Cancer Run, in support of POGO, so that they may continue to support and advocate for the doctors, children, families and survivors who have dealt with pediatric cancer.