Humans of Downey - Chad

"Recently, we were on vacation in Tahoe and my 6-year-old son, Charley, became sick. We got some blood work done while we were there and in the middle of the morning they called and said my son had leukemia. We were to get him to the nearest emergency room because he needed a blood transfusion and platelets immediately, because he was in danger. From there, they airlifted him to Sacramento. He was at Kaiser, Sacramento, where they did a bunch more tests. Next, they airlifted him to here at the Kaiser, Downey.

"Dr. Simon and the other doctors have been treating my son for acute leukemia of ambiguous linage. It's like pre-T-cell AAL leukemia. Tomorrow, my son is going in for his fourth treatment. They will be doing a spinal tap and giving chemotherapy in his chest IV. They tell us he will have three years minimum of chemotherapy. He's already had complications with an inflamed liver.

"We've been here for about two weeks at this Kaiser hospital. We need to be with him, be good parents, trying to make the best of our days. We're praying that this all works."

Tears fall.

"We're just trying to get by, you know. Currently, his white blood cell count is zero. He has nothing to fight off any disease.

"Last Christmas we asked Charley if he knew the real meaning of Christmas. He said, 'Dad, it's Jesus' birthday. Don't you know?' That day, we knew he knew Jesus."
~ Chad

Out of desperation, hope

In our local cemetery there is a group of old tombstones depicting very similar pictures such as baby shoes and little angels. Each of these headstones record a birth and a death only a few months apart, all around the late 1940s and a few into the late 1950s. Right around the baby boom period a lot of infants were buried here. I can only assume it was a polio epidemic which ended when the vaccination was discovered. It's so sad to think about, but it really makes me appreciate the scientists working on all the pain in this world.