“Should I call my husband? Does he need to come?”
Michelle Pianta knew deep down something was very wrong with her seven-and-a-half month old son Jackson as she waited at Bunbury Hospital for his blood test results.
The answer was yes and it wasn’t long before Michelle and Marc Pianta began living their worst nightmare.
“The paediatrician said just by looking at him he didn’t need to see the results, ‘I’m almost certain that he’s got leukaemia’ he said,” Mrs Pianta recounted.
The couple drove their sick son to Princess Margaret Hospital and did not leave for seven-and-a-half months – the same length of time Jackson had been alive before his diagnosis of infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
“What people don’t realise is that when you are diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia under 12 months of age, the survival rate drops dramatically,” Mr Pianta said.
Jackson began a regime of intense chemotherapy, but did not lose his cheeky nature.
“He’s standing in his cot shaking the sides, having chemo at the same time,” Mr Pianta said.
“It’s insane the amount chemo that he has had and it hasn’t even phased him.”
Although Jackson coped with the intense treatment, it was not always easy. At one point the little boy suffered multiple bacterial infections, badly scaring his parents.
Under the care of Dr Kotecha, Jackson has recently been given the OK to go home, although he will still be taking oral chemotherapy once a day. His parents are excited to do normal family things like giving him a proper bath, which they haven’t been able to do since he became ill.
The couple, who allowed The Kids Research Institute Australia team to use samples taken from their son for research, said the work Dr Kotecha was doing was amazing.
“It’s invaluable, the research that they do,” Mr Pianta said. “All of the previous patients that have consented to it have added to the research, to get where they are today. There is still a long way to go, but without that research Jackson's treatment wouldn’t be available, and he wouldn’t be here with us now.”
The couple has been warned that the disease could recur.
“It’s still scary – the doctors have told us the whole way along he’s got great results following his bone marrow tests, but unfortunately with this disease, because it is so aggressive, there are still no guarantees,” Mrs Pianta said. “It could come back at any time. And if he relapses the disease is more aggressive and harder to treat.”
For now, though, they are grateful their son can come home and spend some special time with his big sister.
“I think it will feel a bit strange. We have literally lived in the hospital, in one of the rooms, for the past seven-and-a-half months,” Mrs Pianta said.
The Children's Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation has been a long-time supporter of our cancer research.