San Francisco Becomes Gotham City for 5 Year-Old ‘Batkid’

Make-a-Wish Foundation turns leukemia patient's dreams into reality

Television news footage showed 5-year-old Miles Scott, aka Batkid, leaving the city’s Union Square in one of two Batmobiles on Friday morning. The vehicles—two black Lamborghinis with Batman decals—were surrounded by media and onlookers.

The drive through city streets is part of a day of events organized by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to fulfill Miles’ wish to be Batkid. Miles was diagnosed with leukemia and is in remission.

It's a struggle over 10,000 new children are faced with every year, the 'C' word. Leukemia is the most common Cancer in kids. About one in 1,000 children will be diagnosed with leukemia by age 19. Today, more children than ever before are winning the battle against the disease. Three years ago, the Harvey family's world was turned upside down.  "We went to the doctor, and she told us it was nothing. It would go away, but it didn't," Michelle Grady told bwte. Her daughter, Ani,  was battling acute myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS, formerly known as preleukemia). "Cancer made me feel sick," De'Anikah told bwte. "My stomach was hurting." De'Anikah, has developed severe anemia and requires blood transfusions. this disease has worsened and she has  developed cydtopenias (low blood counts) caused by progressive bone marrow failure.

In the 70s and 80s, most kids with ALL received radiation to their heads. "Those kids lost about 10 IQ points," Dr. Kline said. "They had more learning disabilities." Today, doctors try to avoid radiation, giving chemotherapy in the spinal fluid instead. But after treatment, the battle isn't always over. Leukemia survivors are almost four-times more likely to have a life-threatening medical condition and almost three-times more likely to suffer chronic conditions compared to their siblings. Survivors also need to watch out for recurrence. "Different leukemias are different, but they tend to be relatively rapidly growing tumors, so if it hasn't come back in the first two years, it's probably not going to come back," Dr. Kline said. De'Anikah sees her doctor every month for checkups. "In the beginning, she was petrified of everything, and now, she's not,"  De'Anikah's mom, Michelle Grady, told bwte.  Let me tell you, Miss De'Anikah is a brave little girl who won't slow down for anything. "In the early 60s, it would have been a 10 or 20 percent cure rate, and now, it's 80 to 85 percent so tremendous cure rates, and we get about one percent better each year," Ron Kline, M.D., a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas. All of these conditions are characterized by abnormalities in the production of one or more of the cellular components of blood (red cells, white cells other than lymphocytes and platelets or their progenitor cells, megakaryocytes). One reason BMT and PBSCT are used in cancer treatment is to make it possible for patients to receive very high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. To understand more about why BMT and PBSCT are used, it is helpful to understand how chemotherapy and radiation therapy work. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy generally affect cells that divide rapidly. They are used to treat cancer because cancer cells divide more often than most healthy cells. However, because bone marrow cells also divide frequently, high-dose treatments can severely damage or destroy the patient’s bone marrow. Without healthy bone marrow, the patient is no longer able to make the blood cells needed to carry oxygen, fight infection, and prevent bleeding. BMT and PBSCT replace stem cells destroyed by treatment. The healthy, transplanted stem cells can restore the bone marrow’s ability to produce the blood cells the patient needs. The major risk of both treatments is an increased susceptibility to infection and bleeding as a result of the high-dose cancer treatment. Doctors may give the patient antibiotics to prevent or treat infection. They may also give the patient transfusions of platelets to prevent bleeding and red blood cells to treat anemia. Patients who undergo BMT and PBSCT may experience short-term side effects such as nausea, vomiting, fatigue, loss of appetite, mouth sores, hair loss, and skin reactions. Therapy has often been called the "talking cure," since the exchange of words between the client and therapist can appear to be the most obvious form of communication that is going on. In reality, therapy can offer a much richer experience than the simple exchange of words and advice. The thoughts and feelings you share and the professional techniques the therapist uses are not nearly as important as the relationship you build together. Because the relationship with the therapist is so essential to the effectiveness of the process, it is very important that you find someone with whom you feel a comfortable connection, a therapist who makes you feel understood. Management  The goals of therapy are to control symptoms, improve quality of life, improve overall survival, and decrease progression to acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).

"At anytime in life we can get through any situation, whether I am young or old, I can start a new chapter at any time. I open up to new possibilities, invigorate my attitude and renew my commitment to living my best life. My spirit is bold and courageous as I freely express my Christ essence. Divine life flows in me and animates all I think and do."  e. a. d.