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From ICU to graduation

Dylan Apps battled leukemia and won. Now he has a new lease on life.

Patty Apps fingers the special clips she still carries in her purse and talks about the bravery beads that still hang in her kitchen.

The clip was in case her son Dylan’s central line came out, the clip would prevent him bleeding to death.

Dylan earned the beads for every procedure, surgery, treatment and rare happy days during his seven-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia, a particularly aggressive form of cancer.

Dylan’s condition was discovered after a visit to an on-call doctor for flu-like symptoms who took the unusual step of ordering blood work.

A couple of hours later, Dylan was back in the hospital for more blood work then whisked to Vancouver Children’s Hospital on a Lear jet along with his mother Patty.

“Dylan heard the word leukemia but didn’t make the initial connection to cancer, but I knew,” she said.

“The hardest moment was in the initial meeting and the reality of the prognosis, I got fixated on the numbers.”

Patty was under the impression there was an 85 per cent survival rate with leukemia but with AML that number is reduced to between 40 and 60 per cent.

“I was devastated and in shock,” Patty said.

The medical team went on to explain the details of AML.

“They said the good news was the treatment time was shorter,” she said.

“The bad news was it was more aggressive and the prognosis was bleaker.”

Thirteen-year-old Dylan soon learned  the true nature of his leukemia and despite arriving at the hospital feeling fine, the battery of treatments and tests soon had the teenager wishing to be back home.

“He just wanted it all to stop so he could go home,” Patty said.

“When he’d say he wanted to go home and he’d say that at least once a day, I’d agree.”

But Dylan soon learned what he could and couldn’t control.

“He designated his room a non-cry zone,” Patty said.

“I had to go out in the hallway to cry.”

There were times during treatment where he was so sick he couldn’t tolerate lights, TV, in fact, any sounds at all and the two of them would just sit in silence.

Patty took hundreds of pictures of her baby boy, regardless of how he looked.

“I wanted to take a lifetime of pictures, I was scared I was going to lose him. He was angry about all the pictures, he got tired of them.”

In January 2006, Dylan turned the corner with his leukemia and Patty believes her son had something extra special on his side from the beginning.

“Call it a guardian angel, lady luck, I don’t know but everything that could go right, did, early diagnosis, early treatment and having a perfect match for a bone marrow transplant from his older brother Cody.”

By May, Dylan received the news he’d been waiting seven months for, he was going home, however Patty said he was still a very sick young man.

“Dylan still had to be isolated and he was on anti-rejection drugs. He had to travel to Vancouver for monthly check ups and all the time I was scared of germs, not so much the cancer, but I was determined to do everything according to the rules, but we were optimistic.”

She added life didn’t get back to normal for a long time.

“For Dylan, all he wanted was to be normal, he wanted to be Dylan before the cancer.”

Dylan went back to school in September 2006, packing a cell phone for instant communication with his mother.

“His hair never grew back and kids gave him a hard time,” Patty said.

At that time he was still optimistic it would grow back but one of his oncologists apologized for giving him false hope as one of his chemotherapy drugs caused permanent hair loss.

“He now wears a hat most of the time,” Patty said with a grin.

The Quesnel Quilters’ Guild quilt and the Make a Wish blanket he received in the hospital are still family treasures.

Once home, he finally had the quad he’d dreamed about those long, terrible months in VCH, but he never played football, another dream of his before being stricken with leukemia.

It’s been six years since Dylan’s diagnosis and he finally feels more like himself.

 

He has yearly blood work but doesn’t take any medications.

 

With few survivors of this type of cancer, the medical community is eager to follow these patients.

“Dylan, on the other hand, thinks he’s bullet proof, after all he beat cancer,” Patty said.

However, the family lives for the moment. Patty said saving for the future isn’t their priority.

“We don’t put off vacations and such, you just don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

When asked what helped the family pull together through their ordeal, Patty quickly said it was Dylan with his no-cry room rule and his determination to get through it.

“But the whole family played a part in Dylan’s journey. Glen was so strong, he was Dylan’s rock. Together we kept Dylan’s room positive at all times. We never let him think he wouldn’t beat this. And our son Darby kept our home together in Quesnel. Just 17, he had to deal with a new school, new community and being on his own, it was tough on him. And Cody not only visited Dylan and helped with his brother’s morale, he donated his blood marrow. We are truly blessed. I have the best family in the world.”

Patty also said they put their son’s life in the hands of the medical professionals.

“We had so much support from the medical team. We never questioned the treatment, we delivered our son into their hands.”

Now, the entire family revels in Dylan’s return to health. He’s attending college, has a girlfriend, is devoted to his recreational motor sports and has dreams for his future.

But as a mother, Patty is ever vigilant.

“I check my phone for any calls from Dylan, because that’s how I roll now. I take his call no matter what.”

Quesnel’s Relay For Life celebrates survivors such as Dylan Apps. This year’s Relay is May 26 in LeBourdais Park. For information contact Michelle Godfrey, 250-983-8815, quesnelrelay@bc.cancer.ca.ca or Cathy Briggs, 250-747-2510, cbriggs@bc.cancer.ca.