TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION

Many of you have asked about how we found out Kristin had A.L.L. So, here it goes. On December 12, Kristin came home from practicing a dance for a school assembly she and some other kids were doing. She had been nominated for Winter Ball princess and the nominees do a dance in front of the school at the winter assembly. She showed us the dance and we were all laughing as it was rather funny. Since it was late, we had family prayer and said goodnight. Around 11:00, she came into our room practically crawling and in tears saying her knees were hurting her. We asked if she had hurt her self earlier in the day, said that was just really weird and to take some ibuprofen. A short while later she was still in terrible pain, crying and said,"You just don't understand just how bad this hurts!" We checked for swelling, redness, heat, etc. and found nothing. We wrapped her knees up, gave her some vicodin and thought that would do the trick. She asked me to stay with her....she cried all night. I, of course, try to find answers and begin searching the internet and could not find anything to match her symptoms. My only fear at this time was that maybe this was an onset to rheumatoid arthritis. One thing I did know was that I would take her to the Doctor first thing in the morning. Even the car ride was painful for her as every turn was excruciating. Dr. Mathis ordered some blood tests and said he would call later in the day. Around 1:00 he called and said she had a high white blood cell count and that maybe she had mono, but wanted to start her immediately on steroids, do further tests and would call tomorrow. Friday came and the steroids alleviated much of the pain, but Kristin was still very tired. Determined to go to the school assembly, I went along with her to keep a close eye on things. She and the other juniors did great, but it wiped her out. She wanted to go to Ms. Cox's (favorite teacher) room but ended up sleeping in her storage room. I picked her up and she slept the rest of the day. So, now it was Friday and we were waiting for the Dr. Mathis to tell us she has mono. He did call.... he mentioned new words such as blasts, premature white blood cells.....I asked if we should be worried. He hesitated and said we are all hoping for the best. There was no mention of mono. I called Darren summarized what Dr. Mathis had said, and that he did not mention anything about mono. Then, I immediately went to look some things up on the internet. Joint pain, high white blood cell count, blasts.....they pointed to leukemia. I searched more sites.... same thing. Funny, I was not sure how to spell leukemia at first. This was the night of our ward Christmas party and I had to help decorate. On my way there I was strongly impressed upon that, "Now they were looking in the right place," for the correct diagnosis. Because of her collasping during cross country races, we were thinking that she had a heart defect of some kind and had been doing chest xrays, stress tests, echo cardiograms, etc. That impression was very clear and I still recall the exact time and place. One week before all this Kristin told me, " I feel like I am coming down with something." interesting! Saturday was my birthday and we drug her off to go out to breakfast. She felt terrible and made the off comment that she looked like a sickly cancer patient....I made the comment to Darren that I was worried that she had leukemia.She tried to make a good go at the winter ball, but called us to pick her up. She came home and slept. Sunday came and with it brought more sleep and concern from close friends. Monday morning brought the usual get ready for school day. The minute I walked in the house from taking Wyatt to school the phone rang. It was Dr. Mathis. He said he wanted to talk to us and prefered we come into his office. I asked if I needed to bring Darren. Yes. Next.... Kristin had an appointment to see a specialist. I asked what kind of specialist??? The words were difficult for him to say.... "a hematologist...oncologist." Kristin was in bed sleeping. I kissed her sweet cheek good by and said I had to run an errand and would be back shortly. I called my parents and told them what little I knew. They cried, so did I. Darren was waiting and we drove together to Dr. Mathis' office. Now, we know him well as he has given Kristin many sports physicals. We all sat down together. I was sensing that this was difficult for him. Kristin has acute lymphoblastic leukemia...it is very treatable, and a specialist is in town and waiting to see us. Are you kidding? All I remember saying on the way home was how are we going to tell Kristin? At home she was still sleeping. We crawled in bed with her, held her in our arms and told her what we knew. I remember her eyes flying open and saying, "Cancer, I don't want to have cancer!" We drove to Renown and there we met Dr. Caroline Hastings. After a quick physical, we got the cliff note version on A.L.L. The pain in her knees was from one blast (premature white blood cell) that had multiplied by the billions. These blasts were crowding out her good cells thus causing the pain in her knees. She told us we would be going to Oakland for treatment to begin... today. We each immediately made lists in our heads of what we needed to do. Leaving today was not what we were prepared for. Who am I kidding, we were not prepared for any of this! On the way home Kristin said she needed to call Ms. Cox. Darren and I were silent as she told her teacher and advisor she had cancer. I think that was the bravest thing we had ever witnessed. We cried. Eric picked up Wyatt, Hansens brought Cody home. We told them what was developing. Footes did not hesitate to take Wyatt and Hansens took Cody. We packed and headed for Oakland. It seemed to take forever. As I think back I cannot help but be humbled by the showering of support, prayers, and blessings that have brought her to where she is today. Had it not been for a quick diagnosis, Kristin would of gotten very sick, very fast. She is still with us today; getting healthier each day, and will be for many wonderful years to comes. Kristin is a living testament to the power of the priesthood and the miracles of modern medicine. She is a gift and I treasure each sweet minute with her.

LIVE HAPPY!
Leslie