Luke is the youngest of three boys and was born during the beginning of the pandemic. He is so special to all of us because we were all home in lockdown to watch him grow. We were all here for all of the first milestones. Now that Luke is getting older and feeling better, we see quite the personality shine through. He is a huge sports guy who loves baseball and football and just discovered hockey! He enjoys hitting baseballs off the tee in the backyard and pretending to ice skate on our floors. He loves animals, especially farm animals, and dogs! He loves to clean and is great at helping with laundry. He really likes riding the mower with his Daddy, and driving around in his toy electric car. He really loves his brothers too!
Luke was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in July of 2022. In the middle of that month,, we noticed that Luke was displaying some unusual behaviors and symptoms. He did not want to walk; when he did, it seemed painful, he lost some of his color, and he constantly demanded ice to chew. We took him to the pediatrician and after a quick blood sample, it was determined he was neutropenic with a hemoglobin of 3.4. We rushed him to the children’s ER in Charlotte and when he was finally admitted to Levine Children’s Hospital, he received a blood transfusion. In total, we spent an entire week at the hospital. During our time there the doctors performed a bone marrow biopsy and after what felt like an incredibly long wait, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Luke then had another surgery to place a port in his chest, and he received his first round of chemo that same day. Since his diagnosis, Luke has received his treatments at Levine Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Hospital with an amazing team of people! He is about to start maintenance. This is a large bump in the road for Luke, but he constantly inspires our family with his courage and bravery. He is an amazing little boy and has been such a trooper. We are constantly asking him to do hard things for a two-year-old and with all the obstacles he faces he does it with such strength.
Luke has a port and during the past nine months, he has had iv chemo, lumbar chemo injections, blood and platelet transfusions, oral chemo, and steroids. Luke has two older brothers and they are all super close. The cancer diagnosis was a struggle, but we all try to be healthy to not have Luke catch a cold that would be hard on his body.
I stopped working to care for and get Luke to his treatments. We have mostly tried extremely hard to keep our normal routine.
Luke is an exceptional patient at Levine. He is so tough, brave, and courageous. He never cries and is so compliant when he has to get treatment. He is amazing!
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