I’ve had a handful of people ask me… since Amora is in “remission”, does that mean she’s done with treatment?
The answer is no.
We found out on September 5th that Amora achieved negative MRD (minimum residual disease) status.
MRD testing may not detect all leukemia cells, especially those that are dormant or hidden in certain tissues. Continuing chemotherapy helps ensure these cells are also targeted and killed.
Stopping treatment prematurely can increase the risk of leukemia returning, even if MRD is negative. Ongoing therapy aims to maintain remission and reduce the chance of relapse.
Leukemia can be a challenging disease to treat, and the goal is to minimize the risk of relapse as much as possible. Which is why we, and any child that achieves negative MRD, continues treatment for the full 2-1/2 years (or 3) years.
Our fight is not over. For 2-1/2 years, Amora will take more medications than I have taken in my 31 years on this earth. She will be placed under routine general anesthesia more times than majority of adults go under in their entire lifetime. The amount of pokes she will have to endure, is unsettling.
All of this doesn’t even account for the possible side effects, her probable future low blood counts, and possible extended hospital visits. We know we will have bumps in the road but the scariest part of this whole thing, is this all can change in an instant.
My prayer is that she stays in remission until end of treatment and that after treatment, she never has to deal with cancer or lasting side effects for the rest of her life.
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