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Updates are down below after the introduction







Welcome to Christina's Web Page. It has been provided to keep people updated about Christina's battle with Leukemia (AML). Christina's Story Christina is a beautiful 9 year old girl. Christina was diagnosed with Myelpdysplastic syndrome which evolved into(AML) acute myeloid leukemia on July 9th, 2002 at age of 8. The initial battle started May 2nd when she went to the Emergency room for leg pain. They did blood work that night and we were told about 4 a.m.Christina had Leukemia and that she needed to go to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL The next day she had a bone marrow aspiration done and there were no signs of Leukemic cells in her marrow. So the doctors and us were stumped. Her red blood cells were very low, her platelets were very low but her white cells were normal. The leg pain continued so they did a bone scan and a MRI it turned out that the head of her femur was dead. For some reason there was lack of circulation in the femur.Christina had a bone biopsy done by a doctor from Moffit Cancer Center. They weren't sure if we were dealing with bone cancer or not, it turn's out not to be bone cancer. The doctor weren't sure what was causing this, so for 2 months we went to the Tampa clinic every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for blood work. She kept needing blood and platelet transfusions. She had 3 more bone marrow aspirations done in this 2 month period and it continued to show no leukemia. Then one day one of the aspirations showed something going on. We then went to the St.Petersburg Clinic on July 9th for another aspiration and it showed there were leukemic cells present. So basically we watched the Leukemia evolve. When she was diagnosed she had only 23% blast, we were told that a bone marrow transplant was the only way to go. So she had a Broviac (central line in chest) put in on the 10th and the next day started her induction round of chemo. She went into remission after the first round, we then continued with the next 3 rounds but, then we found a study that had 16 AML patients just like Christina and 10 of them did a stronger Chemo regimen instead of transplant and those kids are still with us today. We had to make a big decision, transplant or chemo. We decided to go with chemo, our thinking is if we go with chemo and then she relapses, then we can do transplant. As parents that was one of the hardest decisions to make. Because of the change to do chemo, Christina's road map (course of chemo) changed. The next 2 rounds of chemo will be what those kids in the study received , we were told it would be tough because it was another induction round. And her body had already been through 3 other rounds. Well, it definitely was tough, Christina went in the hospital to start this round on Nov 6th, 2002 and Christina didn't come home until DEC 28th, 2002. (53 days) In that long stay she was in ICU for a week.Her body went into septic shock, her blood pressure dropped dramatically her body was wanting to shut down, Because she was so septic she ended up with ecoli. She didn't eat or walk for 5 weeks.Christina is so amazing, I say it all the time in the updates, I am just blown away by her strenght and through it all she has this beautiful smile that just melts your heart. Now we are home waiting for her marrow to produce again on it's own.

Around the Middle of July 2003, learned that Christina had relapsed.. The AML leukemia was back… So we went forward with a bone marrow transplant and All Children’s Hospital in St.Petersburg, Florida….
Christina was admitted on August 25th, 2003 to start her week of transplant preparation… She had 4 days of full body radiation and 2 days of very aggressive chemo and then on September 2nd, 2003 Christina received a cord blood transplant…. Her journey has been Very Long and Hard but one thing is for sure SHE IS A FIGHTER….. Her strength amazes us ALL….





I NOW HAVE A GUEST MAP PLEASE SIGN IT IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE MY GOAL IS TO FILL ALL 50 STATES AND SOME COUNTRIES TOO. THANK YOU, CHRISTINA










Christina's Birthday Quilt

At 2:42 p.m Sept, 2, 2003 Christina received her cord blood transplant…THANK YOU VERY MUCH to the Donor who is out there somewhere that had a baby girl and was kind enough to donate the cord blood… MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!!!


Journal

Saturday,26 2008 6:20 AM CST




WOW...
Where to begin...

Happy New Year to Everyone...

What a year it has been.. First let me say that Christina is doing pretty good... She just had surgery on her right leg to stop the growth plate, she had the surgery about 3 weeks ago and is now starting physical therapy to help get the mobility back in her knee.. As far as the Cancer side of things she is doing wonderfully... We are so very thankful everyday... She has a lot of other issues due to all her treatment and transplant but these are things we can handle...

Christina is now in High School.. 9th grade... Ashley is in 10th grade... The baby.. Nicholas is now 15 months old and such a joy to all of us....

Michael is now a RN and works on the same floor Christina has spent many months/years... Michael is such an amazing husband and father I am truly blessed...
l
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HERE IS A STORY THAT CHRISTINA WORKED ON … SHE WANTS TO WRITE A BOOK, BUT RIGHT NOW SHE SAID SHE IS JUST TRYING TO GET STUFF OUT OF HER HEAD…. SO HERE IS CHRISTINA’S STORY….

Hey everybody this is my story about my life with cancer it was strange when I found out I had AML leukemia. I had now idea what it was so I had to learn all about what it was. So we got an book about meds and a book about how to be clean. The first year of my cancer they thought I would have an transplant and so I had to learn all about that. Once I found out. That I would not be able to go into stores I got upset and I didn’t understand why and then they told me if I got sick with a cold or sneezes I could get really sick and die. Which kind of scared me a lot so I could not go to school and see all my friends. which really stunk I missed over a year of school and I hated it I now some of the kids said I would love to be out of school but I hated it. After I went in for a stay in the hospital I got really sick and almost died I had to go down to ICU I really don’t now what happened because I think I passed out and everything happened so fast.

Next we go back to the doctors and they decided not to do transplant and I did chemo for almost a year. All of my hair fell out all of the hair on my legs and all of the hair on my head my eye brows and eye lashes and loosing my eye lashes were falling out they really bugged me because they kept falling out. And finally after all my chemo my hair started to come back and luckily it came back the same culler and still really shiny. One day they did a bone marrow and it showed some blasts but my blood count was still good so they waited a little while and did another bone marrow and it was a little worse and my counts were starting to act funny and then one last time and it came back very bad.

So they decided to do a bone marrow transplant so we had to search for a mach and we found out that there is a match it was a 4 out of 6 cord blood match so they said I would need to have a couple of rounds of chemo and then my transplant so before I went in I went to all the stores and food stores that I could and bowling and every thing you could think of and then I went in and I decorated my room till you could not see the walls any more and then after like 80 days I got out of the hospital and was home now I have to take a lot of pills and one of them smell like skunk and it use to be hard to take them but now its not. Now its real easy to take my pills. Now it is 138 days post transplant and I am doing great.

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IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS

Often in times of trouble
we don't know what to say,
So we choose to say nothing,
and sometimes run away.
When friends are really hurting,
we don't know what to do,
So we offer weak excuses
or say we're hurting too.

It really doesn't matter
what kind of gift we bring;
We only need to be there
if we don't bring a thing.

It truly is amazing
what a hug can do,
When heartache numbs the senses,
and friends depend on you.

There's comfort just in knowing
that you are not alone,
When tears are overflowing,
and hearts are cold as stone.

It's the loving prayers of others
that balance our accounts,
For when we measure love,
it's still the thought that counts.

By~ Clay Harrison













You can send mail to our PO Box…

The P.O. Box address is:
Christina Gates
P.O. Box 7773
Lakeland, FL 33807-7773



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I also added a link to Tampa Bay Lightning Brad Richards #19 web site, What Brad and the Organization does for the kids in our area is so Amazing and special and we THANK YOU BRAD!!! AND THE WHOLE LIGHTNING ORGANIZATION!!!!
You can Click here to go to Brad Richards #19 Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey players Web Site















THIS PART BELOW I AM LEAVING HERE BECAUSE I MEAN EVERY BIT OF IT FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!!




The mail she has received has been so wonderful… There is just NO way to describe watching your child go through living HELL, but then for a little while you see the child she use to be, while she is opening the mail and packages… What a Blessing to see her SMILE… Thank you to the ones that have sent her cards and gifts… It truly makes a difference in Christina and Our whole Family…
THANK YOU!!!!











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I wish all of you who come across this page through one way or another could have a chance to meet all of these AMAZING kids… The strength that they have is truly unbelievable… I am honored to know the ones I know… I feel blessed.. Even though we are going through all of this with Christina, the best thing that has happened is getting to meet these kids… Look at ^i^Brittany^i^, UNBELIEVABLE…. She truly is an inspiration… I will NEVER be the same after getting to know Her and Her Family.. Our Lives WILL forever be Changed.. Not just because we live with Cancer.. But we have the privilege to see some VERY courageous Kids and young Ladies…









Christina wanted to color her hair before she lost it all again..




Christina at Boggy Creek Camp June 2003






Christina has a NEW SMILE QUILT stop by and take a look and you can add a patch to it.


Click here to see Christina's beautiful BIRTHDAY quilt made by the quilts of love








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E-mail Author: cher9293@aol.com

 
 

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