On April 5th, 2010 Darby was diagnosed with APL leukemia. She was 13 months old at the time. She is the youngest person to be diagnosed with this rare type of leukemia. As soon as she was diagnosed, Darby underwent surgery to place a central line in her chest and began chemotherapy. Her doctors have come up with a totally new protocol for her treatment since she is too young for the standard protocol. Right now, she is in the hospital for her fourth round of chemo. She has one more to go and, depending upon the results of her bone marrow biopsy, she may have to have a bone marrow transplant. Over the past several months, Darby has been so strong and brave. She has made friends with all of her oncology team and the nurses on the pediatric wing of Egleston hospital despite all of the needles and fevers and side effects of treatment. She always has a smile and wave for the people who come into our hospital room. Egleston has become our home away from home because each round of chemo brings with it a four to six week hospital stay. She continues to be an inspiration to everyone as she takes her medicine without complaint and learned to walk while undergoing a tough round of treatment. I think the hardest thing for Darby has been how much she misses her big brother, Preston. He is her favorite person, but unfortunately, he can't visit because of hospital age restrictions. While we wait for Darby's immune system to recover, she talks to her brother and her dad on the phone. We are looking forward to the day that Darby achieves a cure and our family can be together again.
