News : Be the Match: Vinton mom of child with leukemia organizing bone marrow event

Amillianna King: Leukemia survivor's family organizing 'Be the Match' bone marrow donor event.

Being the mom of a child with cancer, says Vinton resident Stephanie King, “is a very bumpy road, especially at the beginning.”

But she says, having the support of others who have gone through cancer has been a wonderful help.

“It will feel like it is never going to end or get better but it does,” says Stephanie.

The symptoms

For Stephanie and her daughter, Amillianna, that journey began with what seemed like routine toddler ailments.

She was teething, and although she was uncomfortable, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, said he mom.

But one day, a bubble-like blister appeared on her thumb; the next day new blisters appeared, first on her ear and then on her face.

Stephanie took her child to the emergency room.

At the ER, Amillianna was diagnosed with bulleous impetigo, a bacterial skin infection, and prescribed a cream which cleared it up.

The diagnosis

But even after the blisters healed, Amillianna did not get better. She had ear infections and complained that her tongue hurt. That led to a diagnosis of thrush. The previously energetic little girl seemed tired all the time and her mom thought her skin color looked off, so her mom took her to the ER again. Amillianna was so lethargic that she hardly moved during blood draws at the hospital. Because of her unusually low hemoglobin levels, she was transferred to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital where she received six blood transfusions.

A few months she first got sick, Amillianna’s family heard that word “cancer.” Amillianna was given a diagnosis of standard risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

After a round of chemotherapy, the bubble-like blisters reappeared. This time the impetigo medicine did not work, and Amillianna was diagnosed with chicken pox. She was hospitalized with an NG tube for close to three weeks while the chicken pox blisters healed.

Amillianna is in remission currently undergoing maintenance therapy.

Her mom says, “I hope that she will continue to grow and be anything she wants to be, I just want a future for her. She is a beautiful and loving little girl who has a whole lot of good things ahead of her.”

The Event, Aug. 18

The help Stephanie and her family have received from others has inspired her to do something to help other cancer patients.

She is organizing a “Be the Match” event in Vinton on Sunday, Aug. 18, from 10 a.m.to 6 p.m. in the US Bank Community Room.

While the King family hopes Amilliana will never need a bone marrow transplant, they understand the importance of that procedure, and the difficulty that many cancer patients have in finding a suitable donor.

A simple cheek swab can determine whether a person is a match for a bone marrow transplant. The Be the Match organization is organizing events all over the U.S. to help those who want to be potential donors and those who will need bone marrow transplants.

The results of the cheek swabs are kept in a data base.

For those age 18-44 (the best age group for matches), there is no fee for the donors, although the process of testing and data handling costs approximately $100. For those age 45-60, a $100 donation (tax deductible) is necessary because while those in that age group are potential donors, they are less likely to be an acceptable match. Those under age 18 and over age 60 are not eligible.