Q',:What the I'lI'St sign that something Q. There are different types of leukemia.

Was Wfbhif durifig your pregnancy? Which type do you have,?

Lo;'na:TstartedhaVingthesehugebruises Lonna:! have acute AMI.. Leukemia is
oninY!eg.;wbenever anyone would barely . . broken dawn into two basic types---<icute
touch thein. If] would just bump against and chronic. Acute means it comes on
SOinething or just cross my legs, I would suddenly. A lot of people with chronic can
. have a bruise. ] was also having a lot of be treated with long-tenn chemotherapy
trouble with my gums durifig this preg- off and on. With acute, especially if it is
nahcy, but that is sometimes pregnancy undetected and untreated, you can only
related. They would bleed real easily, and
I was excessively tired and very anenrlc,
butall those things can just becaused
by pregnancy. My lymph nodes
were also SWollen, but those
were the only signs we had,
and theyall had eXplanations
so we really didn't know.
Evel}'thingwasjust masked
by tliepregnancy.
Q. What event led to the
diagnosis of the leukemia?
Lonna: That was really an
accidental fInd-providential in
our eyes but accidental in the eyes
of the medical world. I developed
preclancia toward the end of my preg"
nancy. I wasreferredto'anOB-GYN doi;tor
who heard a heart murmUr. He Was doing , live about two months at the max. It's
sorne routine testing to See why I would called acute myeloid leukemia. There's
have,,, heart murmur, and he ran a CBC also another kind called All that fulls .,
(complete blood count) andan EKG. The under acute. Most children have AlL
EKGwas norlna!, but the CBCshowed an
enormous white cell count. I think it was
sixty thousand white blood cells where the:
nomial count is between fIve and ten
thousand. They immediately called me
back to tbe hospital. They said, "Don't be
alarmed; don't hurry over. It's not a medi-
cal emergency, but we'd like to run some
more tests on your blood work so be
prepared to stay in the hospital over the
wee\<end." We came to the hospital not
, kn()wingwhatwasgoingon. Theyrushed
ine into a room and started drawing my
blood. When l saw my family doctor there
as well as the OB doctor, I began towonder
what was going on. I fInally asked, and
they said that they suspected that 1 had
leukemia. I said, "Ob, swell." That's the
only thing I could think to say; and my
doctor said, "No, it's notswelL",He came
over and was very compassionate.
Q. What type of treannents have you un-
, dergone?
Lonna: I've had thr!:e rounds of chemo-
therapy. They were hoping after the fJISt
round I'd go into remission, but I didn't.
They Wive me the same treatment again
hOping I would go into remission the
second time, but] didn't. The third time
they changed the type of cbemicals mak-
ing it much stronger. They thought I was
going to achieve remission then, but after
the second bone marrow biopsywasdone,
it proved that there were still leukemia
cells growing. It seems to be resistant to
this kind of chemotherapy which is why
they believe a transplant is my only chance
'for a cure. They do such intenSe chemo-
therapy for a transplant that they actually
kill the bone marrow itself and hopefully
all the leukemia too. That's why you have
to have someone ready to transplant it
18 f TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon June, 1992
bacl<insoyoucanhavesomeone'smarrow
tomake platelets and White blood cells fot
you. All these treatm,ents must be cOsdy.
Q.Eventhough you have insurance;-
hasn't it been difficult fInancially?
Lonna: Yes, it has. We have a' $500,000
maximum lifetime on each individual in
our family. That would all my
pregnancies and my care up till now.
Three monthsinthehospitalputusalmost
halfway there to the maximum; They
estimate that my care in the hospi-
tal for a bone marrow transplant
would run around $250,000.
Anotherproblemthatwehave
is that our insurance won't
cover the donor search. Each
person who is tested who is
a possible match for me
would be like $280 a per-
son if it is in the USA. If we
have to go out of the country,
it's even more costly. You can
possibly run through a hundred
people and run up a $28,000 bill for
just lookit)g for someone. (Editor's note: A
trust fund has been Set up to help defray
Lonna's medical expenses. ,If YO,ucan
contribute, please sefid to:
Lanl1a Akin Trust Fund
do First National Bank & Trust
P.O. Box 2227
Carbondale, f!.. 62901 )
Q. With the new baby and six other
children, how has your family managed?
Lonna: Mosdy the children took over the
same way they badin the past. My oldest
daughter Callie has taken care of the baby
since he came home. She hasalso managed
the household with Mark overseeing all
that. We received a lot of help froin outside
friends in our church and from our fami-
lies. The load, however, has basically been
on Callie, She stayed with me in the hospi-
tal while the habywasstill hospitalized and
learned a lot of techniques for caring for a
premature baby, She did an job,
and he has done very we:ll since he has
come home.
Q. How do you think the Lord has pre-
pared your family to face this trial?
Mark: Mter having missed so many wor-
ship services, I wrote a letter to our church.
I told them I couldn't stress enough the
study of the doctrines of the reformed
faith. I really think that that was what
prepared our hearts for facing this trial. I
honestly believe that you may not think of
yourself as having to go through some-
thing of this magnitude orthinkofyourself
as being surprised by an illness so young.
KnowingthesovereignLordiswhatmakes
all the difference in the world. Your faith is
notshaken because your faith is grounded
in the God that we study as reformed
Christians. Our God is a God who is
sovereign, who loves us, who is sovereign
in His grace and sovereign in His mercy.
Faith is not what we say but what we do;
it is an obedience to the Word. Obeying
God in every area of liCe helps every area of
life to be in order and ready for the testing.
It's not that you don't learn lessons duling
a trial, but that your faith isn't shaken-it's
proven. I believe God prepared our hearts.
We didn't know this was coming, but God
prepared us.
Lonna: Isn't it Corlie Ten Boom that has a
story about the bus ticket and being wor-
lied about having that ticket when you're
ready? Her father told how she didn't need
that ticket until she was ready to get on the
bus. I can't remember the story exactly, but
I've thought of that an awful lot. When you
thinkaboutgoingthroughsomethingditTi-
cult,you think, "Oh,I don'twantto do this.
I would never want to do this: Yet, some-
how God gives you the ticket when you
need it. The grace comes, and you don't
even understand yourself how it happens.
Youjustknow that God gives you the grace
to deal with it when you need it.
. Q. How have you prepared the children to
endure?
Lonna: Well, Ithinkbasicallyit's justwhat
we said before-they learn to lean on each
other a lot. The little ones look to Callie
because Callie has always been here.
Probably one of the hardest hit has been
myeleven-year-old daughter because she's
sort of in between. There are fIVe years
between her and Callie and five years from
her to Seth. She seems to be quieter and
holdsaIotoHtin. She doesn't talk as much
about it. I have to really work with her
sometimes to get herto talk about it. She's
been separated a lot from her fliends as a
result of the situation so she's suffered a
little more in terms of a lack offellowship.
Marl.: As a father I have always had a little
lecture called the "That's Not Fair Lecture.'
Lonna and I have always tried to instill in
the children the idea that we don't want
justice from God, and we don't want a fai r
deal out of life. We want to be totally
dependent on God's mercy and to look to
him for his grace and his 10vingkindness.
We have made that a sort of rule in our
home-school-there's no such thing as
'that's not fair." There is autholity that
needs to be obeyed; there is autholity that
needs to be answered to. I think that in a
family having thatautholity struCTUre with
older children who are responsible and
who care for the younger ones makes it
easier for the younger ones to endure trials.
They have a seculity in knowing that if
Mom and Dad aren't home, they have
someonewho'sprotectingthemandwho's
going to care for them and keep them out
of trouble. I think that as time goes on
through this illness and through more
hospital stays, that's one thing that we are
going to emphasize more and more. There
is autholiry and we are all under autholiry.
Q. Do you think that prayer and family
worship have also strengthened the kids?
Marl.: I can answer that. While Lonnawas
in the hospital, my children were prayer
partners with me. Thar is definitely some-
thing I would probably putin the category
of prepalingfor suffeling. Our children are
part of the good things that have happened
because of their prayers. Out family wor-
ship--our family prayers and devotions--
blingsaclosenessthatwe have always had.
I think it's even more important now than
ever before.
Q. Do you think that Christians can pre-
pare themselves and their families for
coming trials?
LOllna: When your family learns to work
as a unit, it really helps when a clisis
comes. One thing that we have really tried
to maintain here is some kind of structure
that is secure for them. We really didn't
want to separate the children and have a
few farmed out to one family and a few to
another. We wanted to keep them to-
getheras a unitatall costs. Forrunately, our
friends have supported us in this and have
tried to bling their services to our house.
When one of the mothers comes in to
teach, she brings her children to our house
to tly to keep a structure for the kids so
they aren't upset more than usual. They
have already had two big upsets. Travis,
my oldest son, left two montha before all
this happened and went off to college.
Then a month and a half after he went, I
left. We have had to keep their structure
together somewhat, so they don't feel so
insecure. I think that if you work together
that way over the years, it just son of falls
into place. I'm not saying everything has
run as smooth as silk, but the kids are at
least in their own beds, and they know
their routine. They know what is required
of them. Probably the hardest thing has
been the separation from church and
church family. They really miss that be-
cause Mark has to go to the hospital on
weekends. If I'm here, they can't rtsk get-
ting infected with something at church
and bringing it home to me, so we've been
a little isolated in that respect.
Q. Do you think that the homeschooling
you have done has helped to prepare
them?
Marl.: I really think that home education
has helped inthatregard.ltcertainly blings
the family closer together in the chores-
the work that needs to be done. There is
also a sense in which the crisis becomes
more real. The children have a tendency to
be less self-centered because they realize
their mom is in trouble, and they need to
help. They need to do more-to go the
extra mile. I love Christian education. Our
daughter Callie was used to cooking and
doing little things around the house to
help her mom. She was able to step in and
do everything on a grander scale. Our
eleven-year-old is learning more and more
about homemaking. They both are able to
see what needs to be done and to make
things work. The homeschooling really
helps in our situation.Q
COllcluded llext month
June, 1992 t TIlE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon t 19