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Parker's Page
The Fritsch family (Richard, Connor, Parker, and Melissa) in San Francisco before one of Parker's appointments at UCSF
On July 9, 2002 Parker was almost 3 years old when diagnosed with Philadelphia Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. (Now 9 years old, August 5, 2008). Only 4% of ALL's are Philadelphia positive. This Philadelphia chromosome makes it a much more aggressive type of leukemia and requires a more intense chemotherapy regimen. A drug called Gleevec was given in the hopes that it would be a cure. However, doctors across the nation are now seeing patients relapse on this drug. The only cure now is a bone marrow transplant. On Feb 1, 2005, we jumped ship and headed to the University of Duke Medical Center in North Carolina for a 6/6 unrelated cord blood transplant. Parker received his new cells on March 23, 2005. Please read the daily journals below to see how Parker is doing.
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Take me to the Jeff Gordon Foundation.....Parker's story - part 1
Take me to the Jeff Gordon Foundation.....Parker's story - part 2
Take me to the Jeff Gordon Foundation.....Parker's story - part 3
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2005 Schedule for treatment:
Feb. 22, start anibiotics
Mar. 3, central line installed
Mar. 14, day number -9, TBI began (total body radiation)
Mar. 18, admitted into the hospital
Mar. 19, day -4, begin chemo
Mar. 21, Richard has surgery to get central line
Mar. 23, day 0, TRANSPLANT
Apr. 21, Richard has surgery to remove central line
Apr. 26, Day 34 is last day in the hospital
Jul. 15, Day 114 Parker has surgery to remove central line
Jul. 27, Day 126 discharge from Duke Medical Center
Aug. 3, Day 133 Back home for clinic at Children's Hospital of Central California
Oct. 3, Day 194 Duke Medical Center for 6 month checkup
Dec. 13, Day 262 Duke Medical Center for 9 month checkup
2006 Schedule for treatment:
Apr. 4, Day 378 Duke Medical Center for 12 month checkup
Apr. 11, Day 385 Duke Medical Center for continued 12 month checkup
Oct. 11, Day 575 Duke Medical Center for 18 month checkup
2007 Schedule for treatment:
Apr. 3, 2007 Day 741 Duke Medical Center for 24 month checkup
Oct. 9, 2007 Day 923 Duke Medical Center for 30 month checkup
2008 Schedule for treatment:
Mar. 18, 2008 Day 1098 Duke Medical Center for 36 month checkup
Oct. 9, 2008 Day 1296 Duke Medical Center for 42 month checkup
2009 Schedule for treatment:
Jan. 22, 2009 Day 1400 Duke Medical Center for 45 month checkup
Jun. 23, 2009 Day 1553 Duke Medical Center for 50 month checkup
Parker being interviewed at the finish line for Stage 4 of the AMGEN Tour of California
Parker making his mark on the pavement near the finish in Clovis California
Parker & new friend from the cycling team
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Here is a list of children we've met that could use your prayers and support. Just click on the links below and when you get there, please consider leaving a few words of encouragement.
Audrey, Alex, Alexia, AJ, Amelia Grace, Bailey, Caleb, Courtney,
Donovan, Evanosky Family, Grant, * Isaiah,
* Joshua, * Jared, Karagin, Maddy, Mason, * Meredith, Micah Joshua,
Micah, Michael, IronMike, Miranda, * Noah, Parker B., Rhyan,
Ryan, Sherilyn, Spencer Rocket, Tatem Family, * Taylor,
* Same diagnosis as Parker
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Normal Range for Blood Counts:
WBC=5.0-10.0
HGB=11.5-13.5
Plts=150,000-300,000
ANC= >1000
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New pictures 6/29/2009
 Take me to.....Parker's Team - Fresno
Journal
Sunday, June 28, 2009 6:14 PM CDT Sorry for the long delay in the update. Here it goes;
It was an incredibly hard couple of months…burning off all the sun exposed skin, to keep the skin cancer at bay. I think it’s fair to say that the skin cancer has proven to be much more painful than the leukemia ever was. We have burned both hands, arms, back of the neck (twice), and the left side of the face. We go in for another UV treatment July 3, to do the right side of his face. He has to keep out of the light for a couple of days after the treatment because any direct contact burns like none other. Good thing the majority of the 4th of July is at night! We head back to see the specialist at UCSF on August 14. I suspect that we still have a long road where the skin cancer treatment is concerned, but we’ll know more in August after we talk with Dr. Aaron.
On June 17, Parker, Connor, Grandma, and I drove to Las Vegas (6 hours) to see my sister and her husband whom moved there last year. We swam, shopped, did some sightseeing, and went to see the show “Beetles Love” which was awesome! From there, Parker and I flew out to Duke for his big 4 year checkup. Connor stayed in Vegas with Grandma and Auntie and had a fabulous time
All of the test results (with exception to 1) came out really well. The one concerning Dr. K most, was Parker’s testosterone level. She says that it’s indicating that he is entering an early puberty, which we will have to stop. Apparently if he goes through puberty, his growth plates will lock, and we won’t get any more growth out of him. With the growth hormone shots that he has been on daily, he has grown 2 inches since October. He is still really short for an almost 10 year old, so we need to keep that in high gear as long as we are getting such favorable results. The bummer…..The med that we need to stop the puberty is ANOTHER shot! Poor kid. The good news…..Dr. K took him off his anti-rejection drug, and he is doing just fine! If he continues to do well for 3 months, we will begin to wean the prednisone.
In the beginning of June we noticed a lump at the top of Parker’s leg. When I took him in to have it checked…the doctor found 2 lumps. Of course I freaked out! The risk of secondary cancers is so great since he had full body radiation before transplant. The doctor suspected that they were just lymph nodes, and suggested that we watch them for a week, have Dr. K recheck them, and then come back to Children’s Central California the week after that to ulta- sound them if they are still present. When we got to Dr. K a week later, one was gone and the other was much smaller. Case closed. Yeah!!!
Parker and I got to spend a little quality time one afternoon with our good friend Laura Adams while we were in NC. She has two daughters who have had leukemia. Sherilyn (whom went through transplant with Parker) died 2 years ago, and Veronica (22) has been in remission for quite awhile and is studying in France this summer. It was so nice to see Laura. We can’t imagine her struggles and love her dearly.
We also got to head down to Charlotte for one night to see our friends at Hendrick Motorsports. They are so incredibly awesome, and we love them all so much. They arranged for Parker to go fishing with good buddy Fred. They stood on the deck of Jeff Gordon’s dad’s house and caught 23 fish from his pond! Parker was in heaven and can’t stop talking about it!!! What a ball he had! He keeps saying, “Me and Fred did this….Fred and I are gonna do blah, blah, blah, next time……Fred said blah, blah, blah….” Apparently, Fred is his new best friend! It was just totally cool!
Incredibly, I got spoiled for the day too. Come to find out, our baby-sitter Hillary was working on how to surprise me with Courtney’s help from Hendricks, and they sent me to a day spa for the entire afternoon. I was completely caught off guard! That was the most fabulous day…..EVER!!! Too bad for Richard that I have knowledge about all that stuff now….He, he, he…
Parker and Connor start cooking school this week. They are very excited to be studying breads from around the world! Then, next week we leave for Lake Tahoe for a week. We come home for 4 days and leave for a 2 week camping trip. Then we come home for 1 week and Parker leaves for Camp Sunshine Dreams for a week and Connor starts soccer. Busy, busy, busy………..
We head back to Duke again in October.
Please continue to pray for the skin cancer to be cured, the GvHD to stay away, and for a long and healthy life! Thanks to all of you that follow Parker's story and are sticking with us despite my laziness of manning the web site! Lol…
Check out the new pictures and don't forget to sign our guestbook so we know you stopped by! :)
Love to all,
Melissa and the boys
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Patient Room: Home
Links: http://www.cencalblood.org Central California Blood Center
http://www.newhopechurch.net Parker's Church Web Site
http://smilequilt.com/parker.html Smile Quilts
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