On 9th May 2011, i got the call that changed my life and my families lives forever. It was my Mum, my Dad had collapsed at home and had been rushed to hospital. Despite numerous tests they were unable to determine what was wrong with him. The next morning the hospital rang to tell us he had a severe case of Pneumonia and was in the Critical Care Unit, he also had an extremely low white blood cell count which was preventing him from fighting the illness and they couldn't figure out why until the Bone Marrow biopsy.
The next four days were a rollercoaster, my Dad's heart rate was extremely unstable which meant he had to be sedated throughout his stay in Critical Care, he also had a temperature of around 42. We were then told that my Dad's Doctor wanted to see us as the results of the Bone Marrow biopsy had come back. It was Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, i've never been so afraid in all my life, the pain i felt was unbearble, i just couldn't understand why this was happening to us. To make matters worse, my Dad couldn't be given the intensive Chemo he needed as he was ill from the infection, they also needed to move him into another specialist hospital. We were told things were extremely bleak and my Dad had a mountain to climb.
They decided that their only opition was to give my Dad a small dose of Chemo whilst he was still sedated. Thankfully, this seemed to work and his condition improved enough for him to be taken off sedation and then later moved to the specialist unit. My Dad started his course of Chemo and recently went into remission after seven weeks in hospital.
He is now recieving outpatient treatment but has suffered two infections, one of which he is currently in hospital recovering from.
I thought i'd share my Dad's story, it's been extremely tough but i'm trying to stay positive as he has come so far.
Thank you for reading,
Laura
