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Getting Through It - with new photos

Maximilian was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on July 25, 2001. Suddenly a persistent case of flu (or so we thought) turned into an emergency, especially since it had spread to his central nervous system.

After much chemotherapy, in April 2002 he had total body irradiation, targeted CNS radiation and an auto stem cell transplant, where they return your cleaned-up cells to you.

Journal

Tuesday, January 25, 2005 11:31 AM GMT

Yes, it's been about a year since I updated this, which tells you that no news is good news. I don't know how much more often I will write on this website, Deo volente. However, I will keep it up as a sign of hope, optimism and information for the parents of other teenagers diagnosed with leukaemia or similar diseases.

Maximilian is no longer a teenager - he will be 21 on March 23. He is in his second year studying ancient history, much of it Greek and Roman, at Newcastle University about 60 miles north of us in England.

He lives in a flat in the west end of Newcastle with four friends who were his roommates on campus last year, his health is good and he is a bit more serious a student this year - after indulging in the usual campus bacchanalia etc last year! He is thinking of going into the archive and records field, including a master's degree - a useful career in a very old country such as Britain.

I couldn't be happier to report this news. However, I always did get tired of people saying "kids are so resilient" because, when you are young and get a 50-50 chance of survival, it is bound to make an impact. Neither he nor I have ever cared much for the cliched phrase "battling cancer" - it seems to imply that if you don't continually fight it, you're somehow lacking - yet it can be too overwhelming to do anything but cope with. It's the job of your family to do the battling as your advocates (doing that kept me going).

But we are so glad to have him with us and cannot thank his haematologist Stephen Proctor enough - I only wish I could win the lottery and hand him at least a million pounds for his department's fine research.

In other news, Peter and the rest of us have been enjoying his casita on the Med since last year. He hopes to retire there in couple of years, but in the meantime we will keep improving our Spanish (no one speaks English there - thank goodness) and enjoying the tapas in the seafront bars.

Thank you for all who stopped by, signed the guestbook and thought of us during all the wrenching ordeals. I will leave this up and might update occasionally, but although I am a journalist, I'll save most of my news for the paper.

Gloria

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Hospital Information:

Long out of hospital, but very glad of the treatment at Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, England



Links:

http://www.bloodservices.ca   For all my relatives and friends, please consider this. If Maximilian has a rare tissue type, maybe we can help others out who have the same nightmarish problem. Click the link on the left-hand side of this blood homepage which says 'Bone Marrow Registry'.
http://www.anthonynolan.com   This is the UK registry. I know some under 40 (the cut-off limit) have offered to donate to Maximilian. They won't let you donate for one person alone - but so many are desperate for matching donors. So if you can't help him, because you don't match - here's a wonderful chance to literally throw a lifeline to somebody else
  


 

E-mail Author: gmcshane@btinternet.com

 
 

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