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The summer of 2007, Sophie Ann Kivett, a 15-year old honor student at Stanton, had made lots of plans for her vacation. A week-long church retreat with her youth group had been a blast, but had left her pretty wiped out. She was tired. In fact, she was unnaturally tired. Wondering if it might be mono, her mother took her to their pediatrician. A quick blood test showed it wasn’t mono. Her doctor feared something much more serious. Rushed to Wolfson ER, within hours they knew it was leukemia… And Sophie Ann was fighting for her life.
She was diagnosed with adult leukemia known as AML. From June to November, Sophie Ann was treated with five rounds of chemo. The days were long and Wolfson became her lifeline. There was one very scary trip to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, but the hard times were balanced with the most caring staff, the greatest doctors, and a hospital determined to help her win this battle. Wolfson had the clinical and technical expertise needed to save Sophie Ann’s life.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, she headed home. Words cannot express what Thanksgiving meant that year to Sophie Ann and her family. "There was so much to be thankful for and, best of all, she was home!! I had an amazing team of doctors and nurses that helped me through the toughest period of my life in so many ways. Not only did I get great medical treatment, I also gained so many close friends. That is really something to be thankful for."
Today, Sophie Ann explains, "I am now in remission, with a full head of hair and no medications. I am so lucky that I am healthy now, and thankfully I never had to get a bone marrow transplant. Although being in Wolfson was the hardest experience of my life, I am eternally grateful to the people there who helped lift this huge burden off my shoulders." |
