In May of 2000 Anderson was 4 1/2 years old and I was 5 months pregnant with Sydney. Anderson became very emotional and started to complain that his legs hurt and he didn't want to run and play. Being my first, I assumed this was normal for a strong willed, little boy at that age. I'll admit I was pretty hard on him, telling him to "stop complaining and go outside and play." The symptoms got worse and I noticed redish, purple dots all over his stomach. At first I thought he had taken a magic marker to his tummy but that wasn't the case. A trip to the doctor sent us home with allergy medication. That was helpful. I still remember having to pin Anderson to the floor to get him to swallow that medicine. A day later and Anderson had a fever. I still didn't think much but my mom was really worried. 
On Monday May 22 I took him in again to the doctor. His fever wouldn't go down and his breath smelled like something had died! Both me and the nurse figured he had a sinus infection so when the doctor ordered blood tests I thought they were a waste of time. And boy was that first blood draw fun...if only I had know how many more were to come.
Later that day I was mowing the lawn and Anderson wanted to ride with me. Being pregnant it had been a long time since I had let him hop on during mowing but something caused me to tell him that he could. Together we mowed the lawn.
After John got home from work he and the boys went for a walk to the canal (where the new high school is being built.) A favorite father-son activity, I got to stay behind and catch up on the laundry. I remember looking out the window of my laundry room and watching the boys head down the street. I watched as John bent over and picked up Anderson and put him on his shoulders. My first thought was that Anderson must have complained about his legs again. Normally I would have returned to my dirty clothes but something made me stand there and enjoy the moment until they were out of sight.
I now know that Heavenly Father was giving me several moments of peace that I would be able to look back on and appreciate.
That evening we received a call from our doctor saying that Anderson's test had come back (they weren't due for another day) and that Anderson was anemic. He needed to come into the hospital for some more tests.
I still felt that nothing was too wrong. Grandpa Cazier and Daddy gave him a blessing, we dropped Cayden off at Grandma Mathews' house and we headed to the hospital.
As soon as we got into a room our doctor came in and told us they suspected Leukemia. I listened to him spout off numbers and statistics but it wasn't until he told us that the top Cancer Doctor in the Tri-Cities was going to come in that it hit me. I leaned up against the wall as I realized that we were talking about cancer. Not the breast cancer that torments both sides of my family, not me having cancer, but my baby boy. My oldest son who was not even in school yet. How could that even be possible.
We were set to drive Anderson to Children's hospital in a day or two, but after the Cancer specialist took a look at his blood results we were scheduled to head out in an ambulance first thing in the morning. They took another blood sample and as soon as those results were in we were scheduled for an immediate emergency air lift to Seattle. Later we found that had we stayed in the Tri-Cities Anderson would not have made it through the night.
The next several hours were a nightmarish blur of tears, phone calls, nurses and family. At first they told us that John could come with me and Anderson on the plane but then they said that there wouldn't be room for him. Anderson clung to Grandma Mathews in the hospital room as she rocked him and sang to him. Family members waited outside in the hall...Alicia and Bill took their minds off everything by reading an I Spy book as they sat on the floor outside the nurses station.
Anderson didn't want to leave Daddy and Grandma until he realized that he got to ride in the back of an ambulance to the airport. Once we were on the plane and in the air my heart sank. I just knew my sweet little boy was going to die. I prayed over and over again that our plane would hit a mountain and that I could die with him. I even thought that maybe that is why John couldn't come with us, then Cayden would still have a dad after I was gone. These thoughts left and were replaced by a hymn that I repeated over and over again in my mind. To this day I can not remember what that hymn was, but if I did I am sure it would now be my favorite.
When we landed at Boeing Field in Seattle Anderson was talking up a storm. The Air flight Nurses thought he was the cutest thing. He was so excited that right next to our plane was a parked helicopter. Another trip in an ambulance and we were safe at Children's hospital.
Anderson was placed in a high risk category because of the amount of "blasts" or Leukemia cells in his blood stream. From the time they took his blood at the doctors office to the time they took it at Kadlec, the cancer cells had almost doubled. By the time we reached Children's it had nearly doubled again. Thank goodness for Chemotherapy. We were told that the redish/purple dots were petichei. Anderson was basically bleeding internally. His bad breath...he was dying inside.
Anderson has been poked and prodded more than any child should. In the beginning, at 4 1/2, he would get mad, cry and (to my horror) call the nurses stupid. My wonderful, amazing mom simply held Anderson and said, "Honey, the nurses aren't stupid. They are actually very smart. But what they have to do to you sure feels stupid doesn't it." After he received his port, he became a pro at getting blood draws and being "accessed" was just a part of life.
He was on so many different medications that he was happy and silly one minute and angry and in tears the next. The huge amounts of Prednisone caused him to puff up and to eat like there was no tomorrow. He had weekly treatments were they would sedate him and then give him a spinal tap of chemo so that it could attack the Leukemia that was in the brain. 
We were in Seattle, staying at the Ronald McDonald House, for a year. Two times we were able to come home for a two month period, and lucky for me one of those stays was when Sydney was born. We had a lot of family time that year. We learned to love the RMH and the people who stayed there. We had some fun times and I will be sharing those throughout this week.
The first week we were at the RMH my dad brought Anderson a Chicken Soup for The Little Soul CD. When my mom and I played the second song we couldn't believe what we heard. It is sung by a little girl and a boy, and as the words came out through the CD player this is what we heard"
Tell ya what I'm thinking, honestly and true,
How come I came to life as me and not to life as you?
Oh I know the feeling of when I'm by myself,
I wonder why I'm who I am and not somebody else.
Way down underneath it all where no one gets to see.
I'll bet it feels no different being you or being me.
Why was I born when I was born?
Who was I born to be?
Why was I given, the body I'm livin' in?
(girl) Why am I Gabriel?
(boy) Why am I Anderson?
Why am I me? Why am I me? Why am I me?
Why am I here? Why am I now?
Why am I who you see?
Why was I handed the person I've landed in?
(girl) Why am I Gabriel?
(boy) Why am I Anderson?
Why am I me? Why am I me? Why am I me?
If I was born, somebody else,
betcha I still would be me.
So many beings I know I could be me in.
Why must I be in this being you see me in?
(girl) Why am I Gabriel?
(boy) Why am I Anderson?
Why am I me? Why am I me? Why am I me?
Why am I me? Why am I me? Why am I me?
So Audrey came over to play...
And Branson had a great idea...
called "stick your tongue and face on the sliding glass window"...
Audrey thought it looked awfully fun...
And she showed him up big time in the silly face department...
Anderson and I were both in agreement on this one. It was a really good book but a bit lacking in the ending. (The ending is what eared this book 4 stars instead of the "outstanding" 5 stars) This is a great historical fiction for those wanting to find out what it was like inside a Jewish camp ran by Nazi's. Milkweed does a good job at sharing details without being gross or too depressing for young teens. There is humor and adventure in what could normally be a very dark topic.
This book did not grasp me. It had so much potential but it just seemed to skirt on the edges of the story without really getting to the meat of it. For example...it wasn't until the second or third chapter that I realized the main character was a girl! Told in the perspective of a young black girl in 1971 a white boy comes to her all black school and 
OK...so the 
John swore our family would never have video games, but when your child's counts are low you are stuck inside and can't go anywhere. (
Since Anderson was missing Preschool we had him and 
While we were there they asked my boys to participate in a photo shoot with Ronald. They were getting shots that they could use to promote Ronald McDonald House Charities. Keep in mind that this all took place from May 2000 until April 2001. On Thursday March 11, 2004 John was in Tacoma for the State Basketball tournament. Someone had left their Seattle Times on the bench in front of him so John snatched it up. When John opened it to the sports section this is what he saw... 
A HUGE 1/2 page add for the 
