Rallying Behind Ruddy

RALLYING BEHIND

RUDDY

Two-year-old Alabaster resident fights leukemia battle

When Elizabeth Hope took her son, Ruddy, to the doctor in November 2019, she thought he was suffering from a cold.

The seemingly routine doctor’s visit led to the realization several months later that Ruddy was actually suffering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

With September being Childhood Cancer Awareness month, the Hope family wants to share their story and Ruddy’s journey fighting childhood cancer with others.

“I always thought childhood cancer was so rare, but I am quickly learning it is not as rare as I thought,” Elizabeth said. “It is not as rare as anyone not directly affected by this thinks it is. I want people to understand how underfunded research is. Only four percent of funds go to childhood cancer research. Forty-three kids are diagnosed with cancer every day in the United States. Maybe if more people are made aware of this, we can change these numbers and find a cure. No parent should have to watch their child suffer and fight for their life the way we do.”

Ruddy, now two years old, spends his days at Children’s of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham.

A typical day for him begins around 7 a.m. where he eats breakfast and watches cartoons.

“By mid-morning we try to ‘walk the halls,’ as we call it,” Elizabeth said. “Literally just get out of the room and walk in the halls to get some energy out and play. We eat lunch and he goes down for a nap. Usually when he wakes up he will have a snack, and we will paint or color or play songs. We will have dinner and usually watch a movie

as we get ready for bed. There isn’t too much to do up there at the hospital, but the staff are awesome and usually play with Ruddy. Of course, in between all of this they are getting vital signs, and he is getting chemo or medications.” When the Hopes’ journey with Ruddy began, his initial cold turned into a temperature of 105.

Joseph, Ruddy’s dad, called the on-call pediatrician at the time, who informed him to give Ruddy a higher dose of ibuprofen, and if the fever did not come down in 45 minutes to take him to the emergency room.

“Luckily, his fever came down, and I brought him to the pediatrician the next day,” Elizabeth Hope said. “His fluid intake had not been great, and he kept complaining of pain when someone moved his right leg to change his diaper, so we were thinking possible appendicitis. He was admitted to Coosa Valley for fluids and to get a CT. We figured he would probably be going home the next day. The next morning our pediatrician came in and informed me that Ruddy’s ANC (absolute neutrophil count, or what you use to fight bacterial infections) was below 500. A normal ANC is above 1500.” Testing initially did not show anything, and the family thought everything was fine by the beginning of January.

“I can remember talking to my co-workers saying that I’m not saying he has cancer, but something is wrong,” Elizabeth said. “Fast forward to the beginning/ middle of February,and Ruddy started with the same symptoms, just no cough this time. I did not wait, and took him

immediately to our pediatrician to have his blood work checked. Everything came back normal. He continued on for about a week with the runny nose and general malaise, and his eyes started to look swollen, while also developing a fever in the afternoons.”

Fevers became more frequent and harder to control with medication, so Elizabeth made an appointment to bring him back to the doctor. While waiting for test results, Ruddy ran another fever with his temperature spiking to 105.7 degrees. The family then took him to Children’s Hospital emergency room.

By Thursday, March 5, 2020, Ruddy was diagnosed with leukemia.

With AML leukemia, Ruddy has to stay at the hospital for weeks at a time for something they call “count recovery.” Chemotherapy wipes out his immune system and he then must wait for it to come back up.

“Once it is at a certain level, we can go home for about a week,” Elizabeth said. “We are currently on our fifth and last round of chemo. Our journey has definitely been both long and short. The days are long, but as a whole the time has passed quickly. As I tell everyone, you literally have to take each day minute-by-minute because things can change so quickly, both good and bad. Through all of the ups and downs, we have just been truly blessed. We have learned and grown so much. You don’t realize how resilient and strong your kids are until you watch them fighting for their lives. My 2-year-old son is stronger than I could ever imagine.”

Ruddy is currently in his last round of chemotherapy, so when his numbers are high enough, he will have the chance to go home.

“About a week after we go home he will have an MRI to make sure the chemo got rid of the chroma and a bone marrow aspiration to make sure that Ruddy is still in remission,” Elizabeth said. “Once his numbers are all back to normal they will take his central line out. We will have labs drawn every month for the first year, and then every other month for the second year, slowly spacing his clinic visits the farther out from treatment he is. They will do this to make sure that he is still in remission.” A big hurdle for