A Family’s Amazing Love

I remember the very first time I saw Melanie.  She had recently been transferred to the inpatient oncology unit from the ICU after being diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.  Her leukemia had formed a large mass in the middle of her chest making it hard for her to breath.  Shortly after the start of her treatment, however, the mass shrank and she began to improve.  I encountered Melanie, with her thoughtful brown eyes, curly hair, and amazing smile as she made laps around the oncology floor with her grandmother in a wagon.

 

Melanie

Soon after, as Melanie continued through her induction chemotherapy, I came to know her parents, and her three equally beautiful sisters.  After almost a month in the hospital she was able to return home.  Today she is nearly halfway through her two-year course of therapy and is doing wonderfully.  Melanie is almost always accompanied in clinic by her father, Lenny, so that her mother Sandra can take care of the other children.  Over the year, I have watched Lenny learn the vocabulary and techniques of caring for a child with cancer, and have been nothing short of impressed with how meticulous, resourceful and thorough he is.  A clinic visit with Melanie and her father is nothing short of a Martin & Lewis episode: as Lenny as the straight man sits in a chair calmly describing to me her progress over the past few weeks, Melanie covers his face in stickers or rubs glitter in his hair, her brilliant smile and laugh lighting up the room.  When all of the family comes in to clinic we are treated to an incredible display of the love they have for each other and for Melanie.


Melanie and her family are winning their fight against leukemia.  Your donation to pediatric oncology programs at the Jimmy Fund Clinic allow us to help parents and families care for their children with cancer.  Please click here to make a donation today in honor of Melanie, her parents and their success in fighting leukemia.