When It All Started
The pain would come and go and at first I thought it was more growing pains than anything so I gave him motrin and ignored it. But by the time he complained his fingers hurt, I had realized that they were all joints and that it couldn't be growing pains. I began to suspect Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis so I contacted the doctor. By the time I got him to the doctor, his fingers were actually swollen and purple in color so he ordered blood tests the following day. His father brought him to the lab for the tests. The day after that, the doctor called me and told me that Kyle's white blood counts came back abnormal so he was referring us immediately to UMass in Worcester. Just two days later, we received the diagnosis of Leukemia. Previous to that, Kyle was healthy. He had normal coughs, occasionally the croup, some minor ear infections and a serious allergy to bee stings. In fact, his first hospital stay was due to a bee sting and occured only about 5 weeks prior to his diagnosis of Leukemia.