Kaydin is a smart 12 month old baby. He enjoys music stories and mickey mouse. He likes stories and silly faces and noises. When he was just six months old, we noticed he was having high fevers and he also had a swollen gland on right side. On November 5, 2015 Kaydin was diagnosed with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL). AMKL is a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) evolving from primitive megakaryoblasts. Kaydin has had many procedures for such a young baby. He has had four rounds of intense chemotherapy, echocardiograms, blood work every day for 146 days. We spent 146 days inpatient at the hospital during treatment and recovery. All of his first holidays were spent in the hospital. I am unable to work because I need to care for him. During treatment, his dad only worked part time to be with us as much as possible at the hospital. We spent many nights apart, half of our family in the hospital while the other half slept at home. After spending all that time in the hospital, Kaydin finally went into remission. But after a follow up bone marrow biopsy, we discovered Kaydin’s leukimia is back. He now needs a bone marrow transplant and will probably spend a lot of time in the hospital again. A lot of people are getting tested and we will find a match. I just know it!
