Fundraiser Details
When
Saturday, May 29, 2010 - 12:00pm to 5:00pm
Where
The Winters' Front Yard
214 Thumper Drive
Ranson, WV 25438
United States In April 2000, our 18 month old son, Chris was diagnosed with AML(Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) a rare form of Leukemia. You can read about this kind of leukemia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_myeloid_leukemia . Due to the intensity of his treatment, he spent most of his battle in the hospital and in isolation. At this time, he could only have a few visitors and had to stay in his room. His type of Leukemia is more commonly found in adults over the age of 50. At that time, there had not been many studies done on treatment of AML in children. So, we joined a study that required Chris to have a bone marrow transplant as a form of recovery from the high-dose chemotherapy and radiation he was to receive. My husband, Chris' older brother and myself got tested to see if any of us were a match for the transplant. We were blessed to find that our older son was indeed an identicle match which boosted his chance of survival from only 40% to a whopping 70%!. After initially responding well to treatment and the first transplant that summer, Chris suffered a relapse followed by subsequent relapses which triggered the need for another transplant. In the summer of 2001, Chris underwent a second transplant from his older brother. He responded well and everything was looking up for his recovery. Sadly, after only a few short months, his cancer returned and he was given 3-6 months to live. We took him home hoping to salvage what was left of his all to short not so fun life. We played outside for the first time in months and he seemed to be, at least for a moment, a happy, healthy little boy. Chris passed away only a week later. Please spend some time looking through my pages here at Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. I hope it inspires you to become an advocate for the millions of children and their families who live this everyday. If nothing else, please take away the knowledge of the great need for research into these deadly cancers and the need for funding of that research.
Kim Winters
Chris' mom
