Ollie is an energetic, determined and loveable 13-year old who began developing a bump on his neck in summer 2019. In November 2019 he was diagnosed with Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma ALK Positive. After multiple relapses in his central nervous system, which caused him to go blind, he had a stem cell transplant in July 2020. He is now a long-term survivor with more than 5-years in remission. This blog shares updates on his wellness and his family's advocacy efforts.

The Brave Boy and Therapeutic Clowns at CHEO (plus Mario photobombing)
Wednesday, 15 July 2020
Last days of radiation and freedom
Just a quick update tonight...4 radiation sessions down and 2 to go!
He was a champ today and got the radiation done without issue. In between we went back to the condo and he rested, but did have some nausea and didn't eat much all day. So we just kept him hydrated and comfortable.
Same again tomorrow and it's our last day as outpatient for at least 2 months. We're all feeling hopeful, but also a bit sad that we're going to be apart again. The kids are sad that they will not likely see each other in person for the entire time that Ollie is admitted because of COVID and precautions. Especially hard for Abby without whom we wouldn't even have the lifesaving stem cells.
She and I had a virtual therapy session with psychologists from Sick Kids today and were impressed with their ideas and solutions-focused approach. We'll have a few more online in the coming weeks to help us with our stress related to all of this.
Ollie was sad today thinking about being admitted starting Friday morning, but knows we need to do this to get well and we're so close to being done with treatments.
Mario and I are working out how we'll manage the switching out and are focused on how we minimize the risk of bacteria and infection for Ollie. That's the scariest part for us. You can't see bacteria or viruses and it's everywhere. Yet we need to keep it away from him and ourselves to ensure his survival the next 4 weeks until the cells graft and his new immune system starts functioning.
I'll elaborate on how we'll be doing this on Friday when we've settled in.
Until then, know that we're packed and ready for admission and to finally kick lymphoma out for good. We're all breathing deep and dreaming big positive dreams of a cancer-free life together again with Ollie joyful and carefree and able to have most of his old life back. We know it'll never totally be the same and frankly we can't go back to the way things were before because we are all changed by this. But we can have an even better new cancer free existence together because we'll never take our health or being together for granted after all of this.
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Best of luck, Ollie! We'll be thinking of you and your beautiful and strong family! Lots of love from Madrid!
ReplyDeleteWe're dreaming those big, positive dreams right along with you, Dawn! Love and prayers to you, Ollie, Abby, and Mario. You are all SO amazing! xo
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