She's Come So Far...
Treatments Change the Life of
One Young Leukemia Patient
Each bead on her necklace has a meaning. One symbolizes a clinic visit. Another marks a test or a scan. As a whole, the necklace represents her courage. "The beads in Sophie's necklace helped give her some sense of control over her life," said Jody Bardoun, CCLS, a child life specialist who helped Sophie cope with her leukemia and her hospitalization.
Sophie is in remission now, and her treatments are behind her. But as long as she has her necklace, she won't have trouble remembering how far she's come.
A Sign of Something Serious
Sophie's life changed abruptly just as she was getting ready to start sixth grade, when a painful bruise on her leg turned out to be a sign of acute promyelocytic leukemia."I thought I had something that would just go away," Sophie said. "Instead, I needed a lot of chemotherapy. The first type was hard. I lost my hair."
She spent most of the next five months at the Children's Medical Center at Summerlin Hospital for treatment. Her mother, Gina Via, worked during much of Sophie's hospitalization but spent every night at the hospital with her daughter.
"I don't know what I would have done if Sophie had to travel to get the care she needed," she said. "Everyone at the hospital was great -- we never felt like a number. We felt like a family."
Getting Back to Life
Sophie had a busy summer attending a camp for kids with cancer and going on a cruise -- a wish granted by the Make a Wish Foundation of Southern Nevada. And she was excited to go back to school and start seventh grade. Sophie was able to keep up with her classmates during her hospitalizations through an innovative teleteaching program."Her battle wasn't easy," said Sophie's dad, Brandt Quinton. "But she's ready to get her life back to normal."
"I've grown up a little bit because of my leukemia," Sophie said. "Now I like to try different foods and new activities, because I know life can be short."
