Written June 2014 -

 

Diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in December 10, 2012, and later diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive (Ph+) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

She has about year and a half of treatment left from the average 3 years of treatment it takes for Leukemia.

 

On December 10, 2012 Angelina Roberto was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and then later diagnosed with Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive (Ph+) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at the tiny age of 2 1/2 yrs old. Angelina showed signs of a cold for a while and the pediatricians just kept telling us to let it go and it will go away. Her appetite wasn't great, although she would drink a lot of milk. It just felt like forever that she wasn't feeling well until one night I noticed a sore in her mouth that was very dark, I planned on taking her back to the doctor on Monday, but the following day she had worsened and everyone was noticing how pale she was and off to the Emergency room we went.

 

Upon our arrival Angelina started to have these little red dots that appeared on her face, mainly above and below her eyelids. The doctors immediately took blood work and started checking her body for bruises. My husband and I were so lost because they weren't explaining anything to us or saying anything for that matter. A few moments later they had her get an ultrasound of her stomach because of how bloated it looked, again we didn't understand any of this. Within an hour they had come back and said they would like to have us transported by ambulance to Saint Peters University who had specialists that would be able to help us. They mentioned that she was anemic and that wasn't normal in a child. They couldn't tell us anything further, so we rode in the ambulance in complete fear not knowing what was happening with our daughter.

 

Upon 10 minutes of our arrival at the new hospital a doctor walked in and said that he suspected that she had Leukemia. It was at that precise moment that our world had stopped, I could never explain what my body felt but it was something I will never forget. The doctor explained that her White blood count was at 75,000 which is extremely high and her Liver and Spleen were the size of what an adults organs should be. The red dots on her face were called petichea which is caused by low platelets, also the cause for her bruising. The reason she looked so pale was due to her hemoglobin being below normal. All of this is due to the Leukemia. The following morning they had confirmed that she had Leukemia just by looking at her blood under a microscope, they immediately began blood and platelet transfusions that were necessary to make her feel better and also needed before they would have to start her first chemo treatment.

Here we are over a year later, Angelina had many bumps in the road as the beginning was one of the worst for her. We are still fighting this philadelphia chromosome which is still showing positive. Angelina has been taking a chemo drug called Dasatinib which is supposed to fix this mutant gene. We are staying positive that over the next course of treatment this goes away. If it does not, we will need to discuss transplant options. At this time Angelina is kicking cancers butt and we stay positive every day. My daughter is an amazing and brave little girl who is fighting the fight of her life and I am so hopeful that this cure is coming our way, not just for her but for all of the children fighting cancer. I can't wait for the day that I can say she is Cancer free.

Leukemia takes 3 years to treat depending on the sub type of cancer, for Angelina we are looking at another year and a half of treatment and I am counting down to CURE ! We will Never Ever Give Up.