Nick Collins, an 8th grade student at Lake Middle School ,was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia on August 27th, 2008.

How it Started

Throughout the month of July, Nick developed several large bruises from football, these bruises did not look normal. Additionally, he lacked the energy of a normal 13 year old and had lost 7 pounds in a week. We decided to take him to the doctor for a physical ,where they found an enlarged spleen.  The doctor did blood work to determine the cause of these symtoms.

The Results

When the results came back, the Doctor had us pick Nick up from school and take him the Children's hospital in Akron, OH.  His white cell count was 460,00, a normal white count is 5,000-12,000. We were told that Nick has CML and would be admitted to the PICU. Nick spent a week in the hospital while the doctors found the right medicines to lower his white blood cell counts. After one week, his counts began to drop. The doctor released Nick to come home. Nick was home for one week and then became ill with a fever of 103 degree's. Nick spent the next week in the hospital.

What is CML?

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a slow-growing cancer of the white blood cells. It is also sometimes called chronic myeloid, chronic granulocytic or chronic myelocytic leukemia. CML is a common leukemia. In the United States, more than 20,000 people have CML and about 4,600 new cases are diagnosed each year. Most cases of CML appear in adults, but about 2 to 4% of CML patients are children.

CML patients have bone marrow that makes too many white blood cells. CML is caused by a change in the genetic code of some of the cells in the bone marrow. In these cells, part of chromosome 9 moves to chromosome 22. This creates an abnormal chromosome called the Philadelphia chromosome. The Philadelphia chromosome makes an enzyme (called tyrosine kinase) that signals the body to make too many white blood cells. Doctors do not know what causes the Philadelphia chromosome to appear.

Next Steps

Nick is currently being treated with Gleevec and responding well, but the only potential cure for CML is a Bone Marrow Transplant. We are hoping to find a good match for him in the National Marrow Bank because neither of his siblings were a match.