In 1998, Caleb was
diagnosed with Alpha-One Antitrypsin Deficiency and received a liver
transplant at the age of 7 months. Life from there went pretty smoothly;
it had its ups and downs with the anti rejections meds and what not but
all was well.
On May 23 at the mere
age of 6 Caleb was readmitted to the hospital due to an infection. This
triggered them to run tests. On June 2nd they found that his lymph nodes
were very enlarged and that he had Epstein Barr Virus active in his tissue
cells and might have Post Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder. From
there they found that he had 2 tumors. On July 15, 2004 he underwent a
6-hour surgery to have the tumors removed. On August 17, 2004 we received
a call confirming that he does have (PTLD) Post Transplant
Lymphoproliferative Disorder, which is cancer of the lymph nodes.
Treatment started on September 8th and everything went very
well at the beginning. He lost some hair but he didn’t care. He just ran
around with his little bald head just a shining when he felt up to it like
nothing was wrong with him.
Things started having
their ups and downs but all went fairly well still thru Christmas. Caleb
gave us the best Christmas ever. It snowed here in Texas and Caleb spent
hours on end outside playing making snow angels with his brother and just
having a blast. We will always remember that Christmas. January rolled
around and his hair started growing back in. However, his fevers were
coming back and we started to get worried. The doctors said things weren’t
looking good, they wanted to run some more test. So they did but they said
it was too late. The PTLD had come back too fast and rapid; there was
nothing more to do. We decided to bring Caleb home because he said he was
ready to go home. He spent a few more peaceful nights at home with his
family. He slipped away from us January 28th, 2005 at the age
of 6.
We want our appreciation
and thanks to go out to all of Caleb's Doctors (especially Dr. Rytting,
Lisa, and Cad) and all the staff
at MD ANDERSON they were all very wonderful people.
We would also like the thank the Make a Wish foundation
and Penny for making his wish come true.
Love Always & Forever.
We miss you buddy, and we love you, you'll always be "Our little angel." |
