Sophia was your typical 5 month old smiling baby girl until she woke up early one February morning with right-sided facial paralysis.  I immediately assessed her and called her pediatrician at 6:30am.  By 8:00am she was being seen in the office having a slew of tests done and before we knew it, we were on our way to Geisinger Medical Center to see the Hematology/Oncology group.  By that evening she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and was admitted to the hospital.  The next day she had a broviac line placed and chemotherapy was started immediately.  It was a blessing she developed the facial paralysis as this was an odd, but early sign of the leukemia.  We caught it early.  Although Sophia seemed to have gone into remission early in her treatment, she relapsed, and it had spread into her spinal fluid as well.

Again her marrow went into remission, but the leukemia cells had spread into her meninges and she needed cranial-spinal radiation -- a huge risk at such an early age.  The radiation did its job but she relapsed in her marrow again.

Another round of chemo and she was again in remission.  Now she will begin a cord blood transplant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).  This is another high risk, taking into consideration the difficulty of clearing her marrow and spinal fluid along with her age.  Now we wait and pray.

Written by Jessica Cizek, Sophia’s Mom
07/10