KESJ: 10 October 2010

Sunday, October 10, 2010

10 October 2010

T+390

Thanks to Make-A-Wish, we have just returned from a wonderful week at the Gold Coast. We were very thankful to see Stephanie and Jeremy having so much fun together at Dreamworld, at Seaworld, at the beach and at the pool - especially when we remember how sick Jeremy was this time last year. It was also lovely to have everything arranged for us, so that we could enjoy a special family holiday together.

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Definitions

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) - a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. ALL affects the type of developing white blood cells known as lymphocytes. It is the most common form of childhood leukaemia, and the most common type of childhood cancer. It also occurs in adults.

Blast cells - immature blood cells normally found in the bone marrow. Blast cells normally constitute up to 5% of all bone marrow cells. These cells divide and replenish all the normal blood cells in the marrow and circulating blood. Acute leukaemia is characterised by an accumulation of abnormal blast cells that take over the marrow and spill out into the blood stream.

Bone marrow transplant - the process of replacing bone marrow cells (stem cells) that are unhealthy, with stem cells that are healthy. The healthy stem cells are re-infused intravenously through the central line, after very strong chemotherapy and/or radiation to kill unhealthy stem cells. The re-infusion of healthy stem cells essentially rescues the patient from the chemotherapy and/or radiation, by enabling his or her bone marrow to start producing new blood cells.