Baby Beats Disease – With Blood Center’s Help
With strawberry blonde hair, engaging bright eyes and an endearing smile, Rosalie Jewett appeared to be a happy, healthy baby at five months old. But her mother Shawna became concerned when she noticed some bruises on her daughter’s knees.

“I said to Corey, my husband, ‘You know we need to watch this because it could be a sign of leukemia’.” Shawna vaguely remembered reading about ht symptom somewhere but…

“Even though I made that comment about leukemia, I didn’t really believe it,” she said. Fortunately, Rosalie’s six-month, “well baby” check-up was fast approaching.

By the time of her appointment, the bruising had spread to Rosalie’s chest.  Her physician, Gary Kato, M.D., immediately ordered a blood draw and the family went home to spend what would be their last normal time together for months.

Dr. Kato called that night. He told the Jewetts that Rosalie probably had leukemia and advised them to rush her immediately from their home in Renton, Washington, to Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in nearby Seattle. A blood draw there showed Rosalie’s white blood cell count had skyrocketed and that she was a very sick baby.

Life-saving Therapy
Rosalie immediately was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s and diagnosed with acute lympphoblastic leukemia, a very rare and life-threatening disease. “Because her blood was so thick with white cells, they wanted to do an immediate transfusion,” recalled Shawna.

Clinicians later told the Jewetts that Rosalie would have died without that first blood cell exchange. “The role that Puget Sound Blood Center played in Rosalie’s overall therapy saved her life – plain and simple,” said Shawna.

Rosalie then began chemotherapy treatment in preparation for a bone marrow transplant. Children with such aggressive cancer who have bone marrow transplants fare substantially better than those treated with chemotherapy only.  The Two rounds of chemotherapy she received killed the unhealthy cancer cells. This was a necessary step so that during the transplant, healthy blood-forming cells froma donor would begin to grow in Rosalie and make the healthy blood cells and platelets her body needed.

Because chemotherapy kills the immune system, Rosalie became vulnerable to infections and fevers and was admitted to Children’s multiple times for blood transfusions and treatment.

A Perfect Match
While Rosalie was undergoing chemotherapy, the Blood Center placed her on the National Marrow Donor Program list for a bone marrow transplant. She needed a donor’s compatible healthy cells to fight the disease.

Fortunately, just when her physician said that Rosalie would need to undergo a third round of intense chemotherapy if the transplant couldn’t be done, a donor was found. The characteristics of the donor’s stem cells inside the bone marrow were a “match” for Rosalie.

“It was a Friday,” Shawna recalls. “The doctor said, ‘Okay, we can’t wait any longer to start the next round of chemo.’”  Meanwhile, the donor coordinator faxed the paperwork for the transplant and Rosalie was spared the hardship of more chemotherapy. The transplant took place at the end of February 2003.

By Shawna’s estimate, Rosalie had about 20 blood transfusions during chemotherapy and again after the transplant. “Because she had chemotherapy that lowered her blood count, she needed to have the boost of the donations of blood. The blood transfusions helped improve her energy and her ability to handle the treatments. After her bone marrow transplant, she needed more transfusions while the transplant was starting to work. “Honestly, all of these transfusions have definitely been life-saving for her,” said Shawna.

Because the donor’s bone marrow was a perfect match for Rosalie, she did extremely well after the transplant. As Shawna noted, “She was expected to need platelet transfusions after the twelfth day. It was amazing. It was actually a miracle, the match that she had.”

Health and Gratitude
Shawna attributes the transplant’s success to the superior care Rosalie received and the ready availability of blood. “Throughout her whole treatment we never had to worry about having blood for her,” she said. “The doctors would say she needed blood, it would be ordered and she had it. It was amazing. I was amazed continually that the blood was always there when she needed it. We never had to worry,” she said.

Now nearly four years old and three years after the transplant, Rosalie is a healthy, loving big sister to Kaylin, and is excited about the new baby the Jewetts are expecting. When Shawna reflects back on the harrowing year of Rosalie’s cancer, she expresses her gratitude to the bone marrow donor and all who give blood.