Thankful is an understatement when it comes to describing the Moore family in Richmond Hill.
Today, they are beyond thankful for so very much.
For how well Dylan Moore, 11, has responded to the rigorous chemotherapy regimen he has been on since being diagnosed with a rare form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in September 2010.
For the outpouring of community support organized by family friend Nancy Miller during Dylan’s treatment — fundraisers such as golf tournaments, auctions and spaghetti dinners, as well as a continuous stream of meals and gifts given to the Moores.
For medical advances in treating leukemia, without which Dylan would have a much more dismal survival rate.
For the doctors, nurses and infectious disease specialist at The Children’s Hospital at Memorial University Medical Center, who helped Dylan when he faced a complication during his cancer treatment: ehrlichiosis — a rare virus that is sometimes given from a tick bite — which he contracted from a previous platelet transfusion.
For the lab technician who discovered a white blood cell of Dylan’s that looked different, which led to the ehrlichiosis diagnosis, so that Dylan could be successfully treated with antibiotics and resume chemo.
For Dylan’s teacher, Marianne Zamjohn, who drove daily to the hospital, after teaching school at George Washington Carver Elementary, to teach Dylan so when he eventually returned to school this year, he was on par with all his fifth-grade classmates even though he missed all of grades three and four.
For Dylan, who after being told he had leukemia assured his mother, “Don’t worry, Mom, I’m not going to die,” and continued to be the one who throughout his cancer fight often comforted her, his father, Dennis, who is a middle school teacher, Dylan’s fraternal twin brother, Dean, and older brother, Bronson.
“You don’t realize how amazing someone is and how amazing your community is until you go through something like this,” said Dylan’s mom, Nancy.
Upon receiving the devastating diagnosis, Dylan’s mom wished instead that she was the one with cancer.
“Never did I think in a million years that someone was going to tell me that my baby had cancer,” Nancy Moore said.
Dylan’s mom considered returning to her native Boston to pursue treatment for Dylan. But then the family learned that Memorial is part of the Children’s Oncology Group. Member hospitals follow the same protocol when it comes to pediatric cancer so all children receive identical treatment.
More common forms of childhood leukemia have a much better survival rate than the rare form Dylan has.
He has acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with positive Philadelphia chromosome. This leukemia is only present in 5 percent of leukemia cases.
This type of leukemia is more difficult to treat, said Dr. John Whittle, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital at Memorial University Medical Center. Fortunately, Dylan was able to be treated with an experimental Gleevec-type drug called dasatinib in a clinical trial, which he has been on for more than two years.
The new drug has increased his survival rate.
“Without this medicine, we would have had a devil of a time treating him,” Dr. Whittle said.
The drug won’t cure the patient, but can make the cancer more responsive to chemotherapy and can give the patient as good a survival rate as someone with ALL who doesn’t have Philadelphia chromosome, Dr. Whittle said.
Although Dylan still has treatment left to undergo until he is finished with it in May, life is slowly returning to a new type of normal for the Moores. Dylan is back in school, feeling stronger, and even played soccer last season. He was thrilled to be the honored hero in October at the 2012 Light the Night Walk in Savannah.
But Dylan’s mom says they will never be normal again.
They are selling their home and looking for a new one, also in Richmond Hill. The house had too many memories of Dylan’s grueling cancer battle.
Holidays like Thanksgiving are much sweeter for the Moore family.
Whenever any of them feels worried about the outlook for Dylan, they can always count on him to remind them that he is going to keep getting healthier.
And the Moores are so very thankful for that.
Contact Anne Hart at anne@southernmamas.com.
HELPING PATIENTS LIKE DYLAN
The Next Generation provides volunteer opportunities at The Children’s Hospital at Memorial University Medical Center.
• For information on volunteering, email volunteer@nextgenerationsavannah.com.
• For more on the program, go to www.nextgenerationsavannah.com.