JARRED: J.B.S. Jarred is for J, B is for Brent, and S is for Smith.
[SILENCE] CHERYL: He was doing cross country track.
A little fatigue. Nothing to be alarmed about. Developed a fever. It went away. He developed
a fever. We made an appointment. We thought he had a virus. And on May 11th we went to
the doctor's and Dr. Becky is a wonderful doctor. Looked him over. We did extensive
bloodwork. And she said she would get back with me one way or the other. And we got the
phone call that night at 10:30 that Jarred's blood work came back and it came back leukemia.
Very devastated at that time and Dr. Becky assured me that Jarred was going to get the
best care over at Brenner’s Hospital. So we got there. The doctors were fast-paced
in the emergency room, we didn't have to wait long. We went straight back. Jarred being
the trooper that he is really took it all in very well- to be 8 years old at the time.
And within a 24 hour timeframe, Jarred went through three blood transfusions, two bags
of platelets. And from that point, I guess our world was upside-down at that point.
Not knowing what type of cancer- and to me, the word cancer is always devastating to anybody.
Then to have it for your child. To go through... him being my only child. So it was just a
lot to intake within a 24 hour timeframe. But going into that night with family support.
The doctors being there giving me all the information- it was just outstanding how Brenner's
stepped up to the plate and comforted us, reassured us that they were going to get to
the bottom of what type of cancer this was. How is it going to affect Jarred and where
we're going to go from here. By Thursday of that week, we did know what
type of cancer he had. He had ALL t-cell. You hate for anyone to have cancer, but this
type of cancer is very curable and treatable. They think that everything was caught very
very early. Everybody was just phenomenal. I couldn't
ask for a better staff. They treated us like we were the only patients
there. Any questions that I may have- even through
the night if I have a question, they've always told me to never hesitate to call.
I just feel that it has been a great commitment from the doctors here at Brenner's to give
us that one-on-one dedication. In the hospital stay- and we've had long extended
stays- they have always allowed us a home away from home.
JARRED: This is just something that they give you that they give everybody. This one was
for feeling. This one was for petting the therapy dog. These are for blood transfusion,
these are for radiation and at night these glow in the dark.
My favorite nurses or doctor- Miss Nancy and Miss Karen for chemo and my favorite doctors
are Dr. McLean and Dr. Ballinger. CHERYL: The nurses have been great in playing
games with him, joking with him. And he has a lot of nurses that I think he's got them
wrapped around his finger.