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A very nice article appeared March 21st in The Capital regarding Vince, his family, and efforts by the community to support them during this ordeal.
A follow-up article appeared in The Capital in early April (PDF format or Word format). How is Vince Doing? Sunday, June 16, 2002:Hi,
thanks for all of the thoughtful words and calls. The viewing is going to be on Tues. morning at Hardesty Funeral Home on Ridgely Ave.(across from Grauls) from 8am to 9:30 am. The mass will be at St. Mary's at 10 am. The burial will be immediately following mass at Hillcrest Cemetery (across from the Gardner Ctr. on Forest Dr.). We invite you all to come to the Knights of Columbus on Rt. 2 (near the Harbor Ctr.) after the burial. Thanks again to each and everyone of you for all that you've
done. Saturday, June 15, 2002:Hello everyone. I am very sorry to say that Vince did not make it out of the PICU. He died yesterday at 12:45 in the afternoon. He fought as hard as he could, but his little heart just couldn't do what it needed to do to keep him going. Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers and support over the last 6 months, we could not have done it without you. I will let you all know about the arrangements, probably Tues. or Wed. Thursday, June 13, 2002: Hello. I just
wanted to ask everyone to please step up the prayers. Vince has
taken a turn for the worse at the moment. He ended up in the PICU
(pediatric intensive care) early Tues. morning. He was in respiratory
distress and is now on a ventilator. He has fluid and possibly infection
in his lung and heart. His heart was enlarged. Yesterday xrays indicated
some improvement, so hopefully each day will continue to improve.
I don't know how much updating I will be able to do as I don't think
I will be home much, but thanks in advance for all of your thoughts
and prayers. Thursday, June 6, 2002: Hello there. Well, tomorrow (I guess it is today now) is Day 15 and Vince has 330 white blood cells and 66 neutrophils!!! We still have a long way to go, but at least the good white cells have made an appearance. The rash that broke out all over his body tested positive for graft versus host disease. Vince is the host and the cord was the graft. This disease means that the graft recognized Vince as foreign and attacked him through the skin. The docs put him on steroids and the GVHD seems to be under control. The docs say some GVHD is a good thing because then you get what they call graft vs. leukemia-the graft will recognize any residual leukemia cells as foreign in Vince and attack them. The key is to get the right amount, which they think he has, and then get rid of it, which we hope they are doing, and then pray that it stays away. Getting the graft vs. leukemia reduces the chances of relapse. He seems to be feeling a little better each day, but I think he has had enough. For the first time in 6 months he is saying that he wants to go home. Not to say that he has never said that, but it is usually in passing and only once and then he is onto something else. He has said about 100 times in the last 2 days. I think because this is the first stay where he has really felt badly for more than a day or 2. But if meaness and being ornery count for anything we are in good shape!!! If you thought Vince was a little anti social and ornery before, you should see him on steroids—not a pretty sight!!! He is one nasty little dude!!! Well, I better scoot, it is after midnight and I need to get ready for another day in paradise. — Love, Laura Sunday, June 2, 2002: Well, I believe today is Day 10. Vince was doing pretty well up until Wed. He has had a fever since then and feels pretty miserable. He has a rash all over, not sure what from yet. He got out of bed yesterday and walked a little bit for me, but generally doesn't feel like doing much of anything. What a difference a week makes: last Sat. he and I were sitting out in the lobby throwing beanie babies at each other as hard as we could and Father Tom came up before mass and joined right in... Hopefully next week things will be more under control. I think pretty much everything he is experiencing is expected—but still tough to watch. I wanted to ask everyone to say a prayer for our friend
Tucker. He died on Wed. the 29th. He fought long and hard, but just
didn't have any fight left in him. Another friend, David, was diagnosed
just 2 days after Vincent. He had his transplant on May 2nd and
just left to go to the Children's House for the remainder of his
100 days. He is doing super. Thanks for prayers and dinners and
everything else. — Love, Laura Monday, May 27, 2002: We are closing
in on Day 4-yee haa!!! He is doing pretty well so far. He spiked
a fever of 105 yesterday, but has not has a fever since early afternoon
yesterday (Sunday). The docs completely expect a fever as his white
blood count as well as his ANC is 0 and will be for a while I suppose.
They will keep close tabs on fevers and they draw blood cultures
as soon as he gets a fever to see if they can find the source. Sometimes
they come and go and they find out the cause. I guess as long as
they go it is ok. He has been eating a little here and there which
has everyone up there totally floored-most kids go 3 wks. without
eating. Vince didn't last but 3 days without his bacon and eggs!!!
As always, thanks for your constant and continual prayers and support.
— Love, Laura Friday, May 24, 2002: Well, the transplant is over and he did fine. It lasted all of about 14 min. He played Nintendo the entire time and was totally oblivious to anything going on around him. Now we just wait and pray and hope for the best. He won't have his bone marrow checked until day 30,
today is day 1. Aug. 31st is day 100--not that I'm counting or anything!!!!
Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers, dinners, babysitting,etc.
We couldn't do this without all of the great support we are getting
from friends and family. We love you all. — Love, Laura Wednesday, May 21, 2002: Hello everyone! Sorry that it has taken me a while to send an update. Vincent went back in on the 16th and began his 4 days of chemo. He seemed to handle the chemo really well; however he can feel the effects of the chemo up to 10 days after the last dose finished. He began his radiation yesterday and is making out pretty well. He has 2 more days to go. He was down there for 3 1/2 hours today and they didn't finish what they were doing. He woke up and was getting a little fidgety. I guess they don't work daily with 5 1/2 yr olds as I think 3 hours without moving is pretty damn good for 5!!! Anyway, they should be finished with him on Thurs. morning and his transplant is scheduled for Thurs. afternoon. There will be a 12:10 mass at St.
Mary's on the 24th (moved from St. John Neuman because of Navy
stuff). His spirits are pretty good and he has been feeling pretty
well. He is getting 6 doses of something called ATG to assist with
the cord engraftment and he was really sick from that last night.
He had a fever, the chills (Mark said he was like a fish floundering
out of water) and throwing up. Now they premedicate him with tylenol
and benadryl before the ATG and that seems to work really well.
3 doses down and 3 to go. I will keep everyone posted on how he
makes out on Thurs. Thanks as always for your continuing prayers.
— Love, Laura Tuesday, May 14, 2002: Hello everyone! Thanks to all who came out and supported the run for Vincent on Sat. It was a huge success. I think we had 352 runners/walkers and about another 50 or so milling around helping and cheering. It was a beautiful day and Mark and I enjoyed seeing so much of our family and friends out there supporting us. I believe we collected a little over $8,000.00 that day. Thanks Dad for having such a great idea and thanks Mom and Linda Whelihan for working so hard along with Dad to make it such a success. So many people helped out in one way or another on Sat-thank you a million times!!!! Vince goes back in on Thursday the 16th. Apparently the cord blood is on the way and should be in Baltimore by Thurs. The tranplant is actually scheduled for the 23rd. I didn't realize it happened on the same day as his last radiation. Allison Reiter is having a mass said for Vince on the 24th at 12:15 at St. John Neuman I believe. I will confirm and let you know. We'll keep you posted on how things go once we get checked back in at Hotel Hopkins. — Love, Laura P.S. Better double up on the prayers for next week or so!!! Saturday, May 4, 2002: Hi everyone. Sorry I'm a little delayed on my good news, guess a lot of you already know that Vincent got to come home on Thurs. He was very excited. We had to go back on Friday to get platelets and will go back in on Tues. to have counts checked again. On Friday is ANC was 560 and white count was 1000!! I can't remember if I told you in the last message, we are tenatively scheduled to go back on the 16th for 4 days of chemo and then 4 days of radiation and then on day 9 the transplant. Vince is doing really well-he's such a trooper. Love to everyone and looking forward to seeing folks
at the run next week. Thursday, May 2, 2002: Vince came home TODAY to rest up before his transplant! Everyone remember to gather on May 11th for the Race for Vince. Tuesday, April 30, 2002: Hello! Vincent had his bone marrow asperation today and it looks as though the marrow is virtually clear — meaning he is back in remission. The attending physician down in the Flow Cytometry lab, Dr. Borwitz, will read the results tomorrow, but the fellow that looked at the results today said she saw next to nothing. Perhaps a splattering of blasts, but she couldn't be sure. She felt certain that Dr. Borwitz would read it as 0 or perhaps .1%. This is about 20 times less than what was seen on March 22nd. Mark and I were very relieved to hear this. The cord blood sample is due to arrive at Hopkins
on Friday and the testing should be completed by the following Friday.
I met with the physician yesterday to discuss Vincent's radiation
therapy — talk about a FUN conversation!!! I'm not sure if
my favorite side effect is sterility or the possibility of other
tumors years down the road! (Sorry ocassionally the sarcasm really
slips out). I have to try to keep my humor — even scarcastic
humor sometimes to keep me going!!!! We got bumped out of our room at 10:25pm last night (and I thought I had good connections!!!) Anyway, our new #-hopefully for only a couple more days is 410-502-4837. Thanks to everyone who is signing in on the guest book — we are getting them (Tina) and I get on Lisa's computer at the hospital and read them to Vincent. Thanks for all of your prayers. — Love, Laura Wednesday, April 24, 2002: Well it's me again. Sometimes I'm only more confused after asking questions than I was before!!! I believe that the cord blood, which is coming from Germany, is still available and has Vincent's name attached to it. However, although high resolution and confirmatory typing were done in Germany, it is Hopkins policy to perform the tests to confirm the findings. From what I gather, they don't expect their findings to be any different—this is just a precaution. I personally will feel much better when all the testing is done and someone simply says, we have a cord blood reserved for Vincent and it is just what we need!!!! We are still waiting for his numbers to come up. They started him on GCSF—Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor—stimulates the growth of good white cells, yesterday so hopefully this will kick things into motion. I believe the bone marrow asperate will be done sometime next week. In between all this waiting, Vincent is doing well.
He feels good and is bopping around the hospital playing lacrosse
and hockey in the halls. Mark took him to mass in the chapel on
Sunday and a man came in in a wheelchair and lots of tubes. Vince
looked at him and then at Mark and said, "look at that guy
dad, he is really sick, not like me, I just have leukemia!"
I think it is that mentality that will get him through this. He
also told Mark to tell Father Sal not to make mass too long, so
he wouldn't fall asleep. I'll keep you posted. — Love, Laura Sunday, April 21, 2002: Hi there everyone. Well I have to say for $1000.00/day the accommodations could be a little better at Hotel Hopkins. You know they don't even have a bar in the place!!!! We are still hanging out, waiting for that ol' ANC — get dancin'!!!! He is feeling good and running around like an idiot most of the time. Yesterday he took the cardboard piece off of a hanger, cut it in half and made rabbit ears. I was instructed to put them on. Well you know the best way to attach something to a mostly bald head is with tape! He then got his feet inside a pillow case (pillow still inside) filled it with toys and jumped around the room pretending to be the Easter Bunny. He was passing out gifts to Justin and myself. Yes, we are way ready to be HOME!!! The meeting with the doctors went well and we are going to proceed with the cord blood for the transplant. We will hopefully receive confirmation on Monday that the cord blood, which is coming from Germany, is still available. Then, after his counts recover he will have another bone marrow asperation to check and be sure that he is back in remission. If he is then the transplant will move forward. He will go into the hospital 8 days prior to transplant for 4 days of chemo and 4 days of total body radiation. The transplant will take place sometime mid May we believe. That's all for now. Another addition to the prayer
list: Evan. He is a 13 yr. old with AML who is here from Florida.
They are having a tough time getting him into remission so that
they can transplant him. They are pretty much on their last option
of medication so please say few extra prayers for him. He has a
bone marrow asperation on Tues. to find out if the new med. is working.
Thanks! Tuesday, April 16, 2002: The family was told this evening that the potential donor is not a match. They are not sure at this point what the next step will be. Previously it was thought that the next option was the cord blood, but there will be some discussion among the doctors about what the next step is. Dr. Arceci, the head of pediatric oncology, spoke with Mark and Lisa (Vince's Aunt, Nurse Manager at Hopkins) a little this evening and he is not feeling panicky (just Mark and Laura are). Dr. Arceci said not to worry, that there are still plenty of options for Vincent. Hopefully on Thursday Laura and Mark will get to meet with the team of doctors and get some kind of game plan. Vince is continuing to do well. (Family notes: You all need to start doing the ANC dance again. It is time for the neutrophils to put in an appearance, so get dancing!!! Keep the prayers going!) Sunday, April 14, 2002: Vince is still waiting at "Hotel Hopkins" for his counts to come up. The doctors think it should be sooner rather than later. Still no word on the donor blood. (Family notes: Thanks for your continued prayers.) Wednesday, April 10, 2002: Vince's eyes are bothering him a little, a combination of a side effect of the chemo and of the hospital being so darn dry. They seemed better tonight. His 16 yr. old buddy Justin that he hung out with was discharged a few weeks ago, but comes to visit Vincent usually everyday. He's a great kid . . . . The donor's blood was received at JHH yesterday and is now being tested to find out if it is a match. Hopefully we will know by next week at the latest. Vince's new phone number at the hospital is 410-502-4831. Here are 2 websites to check out if interested in being put on the marrow registry: www.nmdp.org and www.marrow.org. Saturday, April 6, 2002: Vince returned to the hospital Thursday after a 4-day stay at home for the latest round of chemotherapy. To everyone's dismay, he developed a fever and, thus, will not be allowed to return home to recover. This means another possible 2-3 week stay in the hospital for Vince and continued separation for the family. Quite a blow, to say the least. The fever seems to have come under control by late afternoon. The bone marrow donor, a woman, has been located and has agreed to further testing to determine her eligibility for helping Vince. This process could last several weeks. Please send forth prayers for Vince and family as well as for this anonymous donor and the incredible gift we ALL hope she gets the chance to give! Thursday, Mar 28, 2002: Vince went back to the hospital today for his bone marrow asperate and was admitted. The bone marrow confirmed what they found last Friday — there is leukemia in his marrow. The transplant is a definite now. They are in the process of finding out if the donor is in fact a perfect match. If not, they are continually running the registry and there is also a possibility of a 4 out of 6 match with cord blood. (Apparently this is acceptable as a donor because the cells in cord blood are more easily adaptable.) Vince has finished his first dose of chemo (he gets one at 3a, 3p, 3a, 3p) and seems to be doing ok so far. Hopefully if all goes well he will get to come home on Sat. His last dose should be finished at 6am on Sat. morning and then 6 hours later he gets a shot in his thigh and then Vince should be able to blow Hotel Hopkins!!!! (Family notes: We wish you all a very Happy and Blessed
Easter and can't thank everyone enough for all you have done and
are continuing to do. P.S. Another favor, our buddy Tucker is going
home next week — we think on hospice, please pray for a miracle
for our pal, he has been through a lot.) Sun, Mar 24, 2002: (Family note: Well the Spaghetti Dinner was a huge success!!! Thanks to everyone who came and helped and supported — it was greatly appreciated!!!) Friday, March 22, 2002: Today's news was not as good as hoped. The most sensitive test they do on the bone marrow (flow cytometry), indicated 11/2 % lukemia blasts in Vincent's marrow. It is my understanding that anything less than 5% is considered remission; however, on Feb. 1st the Flow Cytometry did not detect any leukemia. The plan now is to go on with the next cycle of chemo. and begin pursuing the bone marrow donor that is a possible 6 out of 6 match. The person needs to be contacted and if they are still interested in being a donor then they need to go in for further blood tests and medical exams. If the donor turns out to be a perfect match, the transplant would probably occur at the end of April or beginning of May. Vince is due back to the hospital on Thurs March 28th for another bone marrow asperate and then chemo may begin. Still a chance that he will get home for Easter Sunday. (Family Note: So our little plan of being able to spend more time at home than in the hospital for the remainder of his treatment has been blown! Oh well, whatever it takes to get the little man better and home for good. Please keep the prayers flowing, esp. praying for a perfect match!! Thanks to everyone.) Wed, Mar 20, 2002: Vincent's doctor called to say that his readmission could be re-scheduled such that, if all goes well, he will go in and be home for Easter. (Family note: We were happy to hear that — keep your fingers crossed and prayers flowing for no fever!!!!) Tue, Mar 19, 2002: Vincent went in for counts today; they are still creeping up, slowly but surely They are taking him off of his GCSF (which stimulates the growth of neutrophils or good white cells). They want to see if he can continue to increase his ANC without the GCSF before they hit him again with chemo. If all looks good on Friday morning when he goes in for counts and bone marrow and LP, he will be re-admitted on Saturday March 23. Hopefully if all goes well he should be able to come home on Mon. or Tues. and then back again on the next Sat. The Doctor has said that if he stays without fever he will be able to recover his counts at home next time instead of hanging at the hospital for 2-3 wks. (Family note: Yippee!!!). Vince is doing really well — he was out riding his bike this afternoon after returning from the hospital. (Family note:Thanks to all for prayers and we look forward to seeing some of you at the dinner on Friday. P.S. I would like to ask a favor: would you please include in your prayers a special thought for one of our pals up on the 8th floor who lost his battle on Sunday night. His name was Luke and he was 4 yrs. old. Thanks.) Sat, March 16, 2002: Vincent went for a count check yesterday. His ANC is up to 788, but not high enough for them to start another round of chemo. He goes back on Tues. for another count check, and then back on Friday to have his bone marrow and spinal fluid checked, and then he will be re-admitted on Sat. morning (March 23). (Family note:We are a little disappointed that his chemo has to be delayed somewhat, but not at all disappointed that he gets to stay home for another 4 days!!! For anyone who is close enough, there is going to be a spaghetti dinner at Hillsmere Elementary for Vincent on Friday March 22nd from 6-8:30 Thanks for checking on us and keeping us in your prayers.) Tuesday, March 12, 2002: Vince came home this afternoon. (Family note: "yeah,yeah,yeah!!!") His ANC was 188 (the doctors prefer 200 or better) — but the docs said it was ok to go. He will have to go into the clinic on Friday to have his counts checked and then he goes back in on Tues. for another round. The next round is a little different so it's not clear how he will handle it. Sunday, March 10, 2002: Vince is still waiting to come home from the hospital. His ANC was 30 today, but he needs at least 200 to be released. ((Family note: "Somebody is not doing the ANC Dance!!! ") Hopefully by tomorrow his ANC will be up significantly. If it is not, he is scheduled for a bone marrow asperate in the morning just to be sure it is nothing more than a slow recovery. The docs say that sometimes after being hit with so much chemo it takes the marrow a little longer to recover. Vince is feeling pretty good. He was out on the playdeck playing hockey yesterday afternoon. He has attached himself to a young 16-yr.-old boy; he follows him all over. (Family note: Thanks to all who went to Hopkins to be typed for bone marrow — it is much appreciated. As always, thanks for your constant and continuing prayers — they keep us going.) Wednesday, February 06, 2002: Vincent was allowed home again for 6 days! He will have to go back in on Mon. Feb. 11th. When he is admitted again on the 11th he will be in for 4 days of chemo and 2-3 weeks of recovery time. At the end of that time they will reassess and see if they will just continue with more chemo or go the route of bone marrow transplant. |
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Vince hanging out with his sisters on his first visit home (January 2002).
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