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Sarah's Story 1
March 17, 2008 |
Sarah McKeown is an active four year old. But two years ago the curly haired
cutie came down with an unexpected illness. Her mother Lara McKeown, at first
thought it was just a run of the mill cold or flu. “All of a sudden, it was
mother’s day actually and that night she didn’t want to go swimming she didn’t
want to eat dinner so we thought well she’s getting a cold or flu or something.”
The next day Sarah’s pediatrician diagnosed her with tonsillitis. But two days
later Sarah was still very sick. Lara says, “She didn’t want to eat just wanted
to sleep all day and Thursday came and she became pale. We took her back to the
pediatrician and he knew there was something wrong. So immediately he took a
blood test.” That blood test helped confirm that little Sarah had leukemia. Her
hemoglobin level was at the point where her organs could shut down at any time.
Her pediatrician urged the family to pack a bag and head to Healthpark Medical
Center. “So we came home and googled Healthpark to get directions and packed our
bag. At such a time where you don’t know what’s going on with your daughter and
all of a sudden she has cancer and you like oh…you don’t know you want to make
sure you’re in the right place getting the right treatment. It was very scary
but I got to tell you when you walk in there you feel a great comfort,” Lara
says. Coming up in a future Health Matters we will tell you how Sarah responded
to her first few months of tedious cancer treatment. Slow and frequent nose
bleeds are a common symptom of leukemia in children. |
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