Saturday, June 9th Kelly Rosenthal Update

On Thursday, June 7, 2007 Kelly was diagnosed with Leukemia: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a fast-growing cancer of the white blood cells. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that the body uses to fight infections. In ALL, the bone marrow makes lots of unformed cells called blasts that normally would develop into lymphocytes. However, the blasts are abnormal. They do not develop and cannot fight infections. The number of abnormal cells (or leukemia cells) grows quickly. They crowd out the normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets the body needs.

To find out more check out the following links:

http://www.marrow.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_lymphoblastic_leukemia

The doctors have been very encouraging. On Friday morning one of the doctors told Kelly that he was going to do just fine. Of course, we assumed that a doctor was likely to something like this to any patient facing a difficult challenge. But the doctor, sensing that his message was not strong enough, clarified his statement by explaining that Kelly’s CAT-scan came out clear (nothing has spread into the spine, lungs, or brain). Kelly is young and his health is good; increasing his odds greatly of coming through this challenge with positive results.

By Friday afternoon, June 8th, 2007 Kelly was given his first chemotherapy treatment, an aggressive dose that was sent directly into his spin in hopes of “shocking” the cancer into remission. Then late Friday he began chemotherapy intravenously. He is tired and now is the time to keep him protected from any possible infections.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Live Strong