On Sept. 1st, Clarissa suffered an episode in which we thought she might have had a seizure. We took her to her pediatrician who suggested a wait and see approach, and sent us home. On September 4, Claire had 2 more episodes, and we decided we were going to the ER. We brought Clarissa straight to the Children's hospital here in Grand Rapids. After drawing her blood for a work up, the oncology department came running to her room. They told us that Clarissa has T-cell, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). At that time her white blood cell count was about 511,000. A normal count is 10,000. Also, her red blood cells were at 2.8. A normal count is around 12. Clarissa was a very very sick little girl, and she needed immediate intervention to prevent her body from shutting down. She was admitted to the Pediatric ICU and they began to treat her most serious issues. She was given 3 blood transfusions, which increased her red blood cell count. She was given some steroids that would begin to help start killing the cancer. We remained in ICU while they began her first round of chemotherapy on Sunday, Sept. 6. We stayed in ICU as her body began to flush the cancer, because with so much white blood cell to breakdown and get rid of her kidneys were in danger of not being able to handle the process. By the evening of 9/7 her count was down to 144,000 and we knew the chemo was doing its job. Yesterday, her whites were down to 88,000 and she was able to leave ICU to go to the oncology floor, because her kidneys were doing just fine. Clarissa's cancer is the most common type of childhood cancer. It is a condition in which for an unknown reason a white blood cell leaves the bone marrow before it is completely mature and is therefore a mutant cell. These cells are aggressive and as they begin to massively multiply they push out and kill the necessary components of the blood that a person needs to be healthy, including the mature white blood cells, the red blood cells and the platelets. However, because of the great amount of research that has been dedicated to beating childhood leukemia, the odds of curing this type of cancer are 80%.

Update: At this point, Clarissa is in remission. That means that there is an absence of cancer present in her blood. We are very thankful for this development. Clarissa will continue to receive chemotherapy now for the next 2 years. Right now we make weekly visits to Devos to receive chemo. Sometimes we make extra trips for blood transfusions that are necessary to counteract the damage the chemo does to her blood counts. We are so thankful that she has done so well, and we believe she will fully recover. But, it is a long road. After chemo ends, another year of waiting occurs. After that 3rd year is complete, with no return of any cancer cells, the doctors will consider her cured.

Clarissa is, without a doubt, the bravest person I have ever known. She has faced every challenge so far with determination and grace. She has accepted, quite easily, the fact that she is very sick and knows without doubt that she will get better. She has taught us so much already about what it means to fight, what it means to have faith and what it means to be strong.