Lydia: A Living Testament

Lydia is looking forward to college, ten years after being treated for leukemia at Packard.

WINTER 2001 - Ten years ago, 6-year-old Lydia was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), one of the most common types of cancer of the blood-forming cells in bone marrow. Today, she is a senior in high school and attends the long-term survivor clinic at Packard. She is a living testament to the success in treating children with leukemia and other cancers that has been achieved in the last decade.

Recently she wrote a letter to Michael Link, M.D., who cared for her during her treatment. "Without your research and efforts to cure my disease, I wouldn't be in high school stressing out over the SATs right now...you were the reason for getting my life back."

It all started in her first grade class with Lydia complaining of pain in her jaw, her mom, Joanne Lee, remembers. Her local pediatrician believed that the symptoms were due to a virus. Two weeks later, Lydia was admitted to Stanford Hospital unable to swallow or talk. Doctors quickly determined that a rapid increase in white blood cells caused her throat to swell. She was transferred to Children's Hospital at Stanford where a bone marrow biopsy confirmed that she had leukemia.

Joanne and her husband, David, were told that Lydia had a 50 percent chance of survival. "At first all I knew was that leukemia had something to do with the blood," says Joanne. "I asked the doctor if I could give Lydia some of my blood to save her life."

Lydia had a form of ALL that progressed rapidly and required aggressive chemotherapy treatment. "Dr. Link spent a lot of time with Lydia," Joanne explains. "The side effects of the therapy were severe. She lost more than 15 pounds right away.

Lydia recalls few specifics of her treatment and illness. But she does remember going to the hospital school and play room, the pain and vomiting, never getting to go outside, and the "nice volunteer" who always visited her.

Toward the end of her six months of treatment, the new Packard Children's Hospital opened. Lydia was carried through the doors by Link. By that time her cancer was in remission. She would be able to start second grade at her regular school that fall.

"My experience fighting cancer made me realize how fast life can be taken away. I gained a lot of patience, tolerance, and understanding," says Lydia. Recently the Lees invited Link and his family over to dinner. "He has a daughter about my age," says Lydia. "It was nice to reconnect with someone who made such an impact on my life."