A.L.L. The doctor said it stood for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. The sound of the pronouncement was still ringing in my ears. Although I had no idea how drastic the disease was when the doctor first made the announcement, it sounded as if it might change our lives, especially Cody’s and mine. I tried to listen carefully as the doctor explained exactly what this meant and how it was going to affect Cody, but my mind kept envisioning the worst.
After giving me a brief understanding of what we would be facing, he referred us to an oncologist, who specializes in treating cancer and tumors. The doctor had his receptionist call the specialist to set up an appointment and then I went to pick Cody up from school. Of course he was with a group of the other boys and they came racing toward the car the minute they saw me.
Once we got home, I took Cody aside and explained to him what the doctor had told me. He was worried, but very brave when I broke the news to him. In fact, I thought he was much braver and more stoic than I would have been, if the roles had been reversed. I was the one who was almost crying as I broke the news to him, so he crawled onto my lap and hugged me, as he tried to make me feel better. While we were locked in this embrace, I realized this was definitely backwards. I should be comforting him, not him comforting me. Coming to this realization, I looked at him and spoke.
“Cody, do you have any questions for me?” I asked.
He looked me squarely in the eye, but the expression on his face told me he was afraid to ask what was foremost on his mind. I tried to reassure him he could say whatever he wanted, so he finally spoke.
“Am I going to die?” he wanted to know. I almost lost it then and there, but kept my composure for his sake.
“Certainly not,” I told him. “The doctor says this is one of the most common forms of cancer in children and it’s also one of the most curable. We’re going to go see a specialist next and he’ll tell us what he thinks is the best way to treat this problem. He has gone through extensive training in this area and I’m told he also has quite a bit of experience treating similar cases. I’m very optimistic that you will get through this, so keep your hopes up and don’t think the worst.”
“I’ll try, but this isn’t going to be easy,” he admitted. I could see the fear in his eyes.
“I know, but you won’t be alone while you’re dealing with it,” I assured him. “The whole family will be there for you and we’ll do everything we can to help you get through this.”
“Are you going to tell everyone else?” he asked, concerned.
“I was planning on it, unless you don’t want me to?” I replied.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I guess you can, but I don’t want them to stay away from me, once they know I have this.”
“They won’t, because we’ll let them know it’s not contagious,” I told him. “I know the others and they’ll probably do the opposite of what you’re thinking. They’ll most likely try to get closer to you, rather than pull away. In fact, you might find it hard to be alone, once they know what’s going on. Are you sure you don’t mind me telling them, knowing what you know now?”
“No, I don’t mind,” he concurred, “not if they aren’t going to run away when I walk into the room.”
“They won’t. I’m very sure of that,” I announced. “Do you want to be with me when I explain all this to them?”
“Yes, I think I do,” he replied. “I want to be there when you do it, because I want to hear what they say and see what they do when they find out.”
“Okay, if you’re sure,” I agreed and then I just held him for a while, until I was sure he was going to be able to handle this.
After dinner, I called a family meeting. I had already broken the news to Jake, in private, after he got home. We all went into the family room and sat down, before I let the boys know what we had discovered.
“Fellas, the doctor told us today that Cody has a form of leukemia,” I began. I could immediately see the shocked expressions and mouths dropping open, as well as hear the gasps of surprise after I said this.
“He also told us it’s one of the most common types of cancer in young people and one of the most curable,” I continued. “We’re not exactly certain what’s going to happen next, but we’re going to see a specialist in a few days. He should be able to tell us more about what kind of treatment Cody will need to receive.”
I hesitated here and waited to see if any of the boys had questions. When I saw they did, I took the time to answer them to the best of my ability. Once this question period ended, I had one more thing to tell them.
“I also promised Cody I’d let you boys know that what he has isn’t contagious,” I emphasized. “None of you can catch it just by being around him, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Not even if you do sex things with him?” Graham wanted to know.
“No, not even that way,” I concurred. “The causes of this disease have nothing to do with coming into contact with others who have it,”
“Didn’t my seventh grade English teacher have leukemia?” Pat asked me.
“Yes, she did,” I responded, surprised that I hadn’t remembered this detail before Pat brought it up.
“And didn’t they give her bone marrow transplants, to make her better?” he continued.
“Yes, I think they did.” I responded, as I thought back to what she’d gone through.
“Well, can we be tested to see if we can donate some of our bone marrow to Cody?” Pat asked, in total sincerity.
I just glanced over at Cody when Pat said this, to gauge his reaction to this selfless offer. He was looking at Pat with a very thoughtful expression on his face and then he cracked a smile, when he realized what an enormous and significant gesture it was. I guess he was beginning to see I was right about how the boys would react.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” I agreed, “but we’re not sure it’s going to come to that yet. If it does, I think it would be a very generous thing to do and I’m sure Cody would be very appreciative of such an offer.”
Cody was nodding his head vigorously, to emphasize my point, and I could tell this offer meant a great deal to him. After a few more general questions, the meeting broke up and we went our own way, but not before each and every boy took a minute to speak to Cody alone. They did this to let him know they would be there for him and I think Cody was truly impressed by the extent of their support. When it was over, Graham and Cody went to their room and we didn’t see either of them again for the rest of the night.
A few days later, I took Cody to see the oncologist. The doctor examined him and looked at his medical records, before he and I sat down to chat in private. The doctor thought this best, so we went to his office while Cody put his clothes back on and waited in the examination room.
“Mr. Currie, there’s no reason to get too upset about this,” the oncologist began, “as it is not a hopeless situation. Even though the statistics are lower for boys than for girls with this illness, I think we have a good chance to get Cody into remission or possibly even eliminate his cancer altogether.”
Although his comments were positive, I’m not sure what he said registered in my brain. My mind was still racing like a wildfire through a dry forest, as I instinctively thought about everyone I had ever known who had suffered from leukemia or any other form of cancer. As difficult as it was under the circumstances, I recalled what they had gone through as they fought the disease. I also tried to remember how they’d made out after they were first diagnosed, since I thought this might give me an indication about how Cody was going to fare.
Slowly, I realized the majority of the names that popped into my mind were adults when they were diagnosed and their condition after treatment varied. Their responses weren’t entirely positive or negative either. Some had gone into remission or improved greatly, while others had shown only slight improvement or even succumbed to their illness. This was not reassuring, but I hoped the situation for children was more optimistic, seeing they were younger and their immune systems were stronger. That should, I reasoned, make them better able to fight off the disease. Now, I turned my attention back to the oncologist and decided to question him.
“Doctor, what exactly do you think we should do next?” I asked.
“My first suggestion would be that I harvest some healthy blood cells from Cody and then freeze them, so they can be used later. After that has been accomplished, I’ll treat him with an aggressive form of chemotherapy. Hopefully, it will stop the diseased cells from reproducing and either cure Cody or put him into remission.”
“That sounds drastic,” I countered, “but I know you must think it’s necessary or you wouldn’t suggest it. How will this treatment affect Cody?”
“Well, the chemotherapy may produce some side-effects, such as nausea, tiredness and there will also be a higher risk of infection,” he informed me.
“Anything else?” I wondered.
“Not from this first round of treatment,” he replied, “but other side-effects may occur if we have to resort to other measures, such as radiation-therapy.”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to do that then,” I told him, “but would you please explain to me exactly what this is and how Cody might have contracted it?”
“Of course,” he agreed. “The various forms of leukemia, including A.L.L., may be caused by either environmental or genetic factors. It may results from long-term exposure to various substances or toxins, but it might also be the result of a genetic predisposition, such as having defective genes or a translocation of genetic pairs.”
“What does that mean?” I wondered, since I didn’t understand what he was alluding to.
“It means that one of a pair of genes might have been altered or shuffled between other pairs of chromosomes, so there isn’t a corresponding gene on the corresponding chromosome. The most common type of translocation is the t(12;21), where the gene pair is split between the twelfth and twenty-first chromosomes. There are others, however, and each has its own prognosis.”
“So how will the chemotherapy help this problem?” I asked.
“The immature version of the cells, known as lymphoblasts, respond abnormally to factors that regulate cell growth,” he explained. “These defective cells grow continuously and crowd out the healthy infection-fighting white cells, red cells and even the clot forming platelets. We’re going to harvest the healthy cells from your son, before he receives the chemotherapy, which will hopefully kill the defective cells. Once those cells are destroyed, we’ll reintroduce the healthy cells back in his system, so they can start doing their job and reproduce normally again.”
“What about bone marrow donors? I heard that is often done with leukemia,” I announced.
“That’s true, but what we’re going to do with Cody’s own cells is an even better way to attack the problem,” he informed me. “There are actually two types of blood stem cell transplants. Stem cells are the cells that can form new cells and they can be retrieved from bone marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood. With an autologous blood stem cell transplant, the healthy cells are taken from the patient, prior to treatment, and then reintroduced into his system. The other way to do this is by using allogenic donors, who are tissue-typed to match the recipient. However, those cells must be used within 24-hours of being collected and are not frozen, as the patient’s own cells are.”
“Have you done this before?” I wanted to know.
“Yes,” he quickly told me. “Unfortunately I’ve had many patients with various forms of leukemia and a good percentage of them have been children under 18. I am very familiar with the diseases and treatment procedures and I’m willing to give you the names of some of my patients, if you’d like to speak with them first. They’ve formed their own sort of support group and are happy to explain what they went through to others. They know this generally helps new patients endure the uncertainties and rough times ahead much better.”
“Yes, that would be very helpful,” I agreed. “I know my other boys have found it reassuring when they could talk to others who’ve experienced what they were going through. I think it will help Cody as well.”
“I’ll make sure my receptionist gives you that information before you leave then,” he told me.
I felt a little better, now that I knew what was wrong with Cody and it was treatable. It also gave me confidence to know the doctor was experienced with this problem and there was a support group to help Cody as well. I wasn’t feeling good yet, but I was feeling better. In fact, the light at the end of this tunnel was beginning to look a bit larger and brighter than before. With renewed hope, I took Cody home. I planned to explain everything to him there, as a way of preparing him for what was ahead.
Cody was unbelievably calm and attentive, as I went over the details with him. He even tried to reassure Graham that everything was going to be fine, instead of us having to reassure him. He was an amazing young man, wise and mature beyond his few years, and I grew to love and admire him more every day.
Cody was also a very affectionate boy with Jake, Graham and me, but he wasn’t one to mess around with the others. Sure, Cody would hang out, go places and do things with them, but when Cody gave away his heart, he was totally faithful to the one he gave it to. He was as true to his boyfriend as the day was long and the other boys knew and understood this, so they didn’t pressure him to do anything with them. I’m certain they would have, if Cody had asked, but they weren’t about to redirect his moral compass by putting new challenges in his path.
When Thanksgiving finally arrived, it was a time of very mixed emotions for me. It was great to see the family together again and it also gave me the opportunity to introduce them to Cody in person. Unfortunately, it was also the time when I’d have to break the news about Cody’s condition.
This created some problems for me. First of all, I didn’t know how they were going to react to having a new brother, while also knowing he has a life-threatening illness. I even worried they might think I’d been taken advantage of, by being asked to take in this sick child, before I even knew anything was wrong with him. I hoped this wouldn’t be the case, but that thought might have popped into my mind, if this situation had happened to someone I was close to.
The biggest thing in our favor was the fact that none of my children has ever disappointed me on major issues, such as this, so I prayed they wouldn’t this time either. I was fairly positive they would all fall in love with Cody, since he was so easy to become attached to, but I worried learning about his illness might blur the picture. Although I was fairly confident they would react positively to the entire situation, I’d just have to wait and see what happens over the holiday to be certain.
The first of our guests arrived Tuesday night, while the others showed up on Wednesday or early Thursday morning. They were all planning to stay until Saturday or Sunday, depending on their travel arrangements, so we’d have time to do or discuss many things before they left. We housed them according to our previous plans and utilized the Spences, Shays and Sally to board some of them. Right from the start, everything was going great and we were really enjoying being together again.
Once everyone got settled in, the ladies basically took over all of the arrangements for Thanksgiving dinner. Even though I had purchased all the food and Jake and I had planned on doing the cooking, the women had other ideas. The day before Thanksgiving they announced Jake and I were going to get this holiday off and they would take care of everything. Although I protested about having my guests do the work, they were adamant, so instead of arguing, I reluctantly gave in to their demands.
To help them get started, I discussed what I had purchased and told them what I had planned to fix. Once I supplied this information to them, the women pushed me out of the kitchen and took over the rest of the preparations. They even added a few touches of their own.
Aunt Mary (Shay) and Aunt Margaret (Spence) decided to do much of the cooking. We needed two huge birds to feed this mob, and even though I had two ovens at the house, they offered to cook the turkeys in their own homes and then bring them to our house to be warmed up. They said there was going to be a ton of food to prepare and my daughters and daughter-in-law would need our ovens for some of the other dishes.
Aunt Sally then announced she’d bake the pies at her place. Carlos’ mother would help her do that early Thanksgiving morning and then they’d bring the pies with them when they came to eat. It seemed as though everything was set.
I thanked my dear friends for offering to do all of the work, after I asked them again if they wouldn’t prefer spending the holiday interacting with the family. They informed me that since there were so many to split up the duties they’d still have time to do that too and it appeared there was no way I could change their minds. As strange as it may sound, they seemed pleased to be doing this and actually enjoyed being involved in helping us pull this huge meal off.
The rest of Wednesday was a whirlwind of activity, as each female got the items together that she would need. They also started the dishes they could prepare in advance, but cooking those items would be saved until later that night or early the next morning. This was truly going to be a unique experience for me, since I seldom had so much free time to enjoy.