Council for American Medical Innovation

Edgewater, Maryland

Like many other seven-year-olds, Joey Procopio loves to spend time with his dog and play sports with his friends.  When he was five years old, though, Joey was diagnosed with a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow, preventing it from making needed blood cells.

The disease, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (or, ALL), is the most common type of leukemia in people under age 19. In the 1960's, children diagnosed with ALL had only a five percent chance of living five years. Since then, however, many new medicines have been developed to help fight the illness. Now five-year survival is 85%. Since his treatment began, Joey has relied on more than a dozen medications to keep him healthy.

His mom relates how the experience has affected Joey and his family:

Joey was five years old when he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-cell). Our life was changed on June 7, 2003. When I asked him what was it like when he was first diagnosed, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know." He doesn't talk about his cancer much. I can tell you what it was like being a parent watching your child suffer. When you hear that terrible word "cancer" you fall into a numbing fog. It hurts to even breathe. We had to pull it together and walk into his hospital room to tell him that he was very sick, but that he was going to be just fine. He handled it with so much strength and faith. He is an inspiration. One minute he was a normal little boy, the very next he was a cancer patient. He had to start chemotherapy and have a Broviac tube (a large tube used to deliver medicine and nutrition) placed in his chest the next day.

We were told his treatment would last three years and two months. He will hopefully be finished in August 2006. The medicines made him very sick and tired. Some caused excruciating pain to his jaw and joints. Others simply made him look like a cancer patient. The steroids gave him a round face and a big bloated belly. At the beginning, the medicines were so intense that he couldn't even walk up the stairs. He mainly lay on the couch feeling miserable and scared, but never complained. Whenever he gets a fever, he has to be hospitalized, usually for a minimum of three days so they can determine the cause and help his body fight it. He has two sisters whose lives were changed as well. They have been amazing and have had to deal with more than children their age should have to.

We were blessed that these medications tackled his Leukemia and he was in remission within 10 days of treatment. There are, of course, side effects to these medicines. He may or may not develop other problems due to these medicines; however, he would not be here today without them.

Today, Joey is doing better. He was able to play on a basketball team this season and will be playing on a baseball team soon. He attends school about half the time and has a tutor that comes to our home as well. Our life as a family has not gone back to "normal" - we stopped looking for that. We have a new "normal." We take a day at a time and when life throws us another curve, we just hold on tight and get through it together. We count our blessings, for there are many.