Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Hero
MIKAH CARNEY
B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia - Relapse
Patient
Patient
Mikah was originally diagnosed at the age of 4 in 2018. He was a very active young man and had just started training in Jiu-Jitsu six months before his diagnosis. He was originally diagnosed just a month into his Transitional Kindergarten school year. Mikah completed 3 1/2 years of treatment and rang the remission bell in November 2021. He started training in Jiu-Jitsu again once his port-a-cath was removed, won three gold medals at State Compnet and Jiu-Jitsu World League Tournaments. Mikah also played baseball, even during treatment, and his team won the league Championship in May 2022. Sadly Mikah relapsed just 11 months after ringing the remission bell in October 2022.
The first time Mikah was diagnosed there were small things that we noticed. He had a bruise on his back from a NERF gun bullet that wasn’t going away, he was extremely exhausted at the end of the day, his skin would be pale; mostly in the evenings and he got a cut from a rock at the beach the took hours to stop bleeding. We finally took him to the emergency room when his teacher told us he was too tired to play during recess, he didn’t want to eat his snack and he didn’t even have enough energy to stand for the flag salute. The 2nd time around we noticed that he was falling asleep in the car or on the couch. He would vomit for no apparent reasons. He would also try to go to his sports activities but would become very tired, very quick. He was also complaining of headaches which was not normal for him. His labs appeared normal so his doctor said it was just a virus that needed to run it’s course and that we should take him to his pediatrician for a visit. We made an appointment for the following Monday, however, by Saturday he became so weak and pale that we took him to the Emergency Department at LLUCH. They took us back to a room immediately after his heart rate was extremely low and he was complaining of double vision. In the end we found out that 97% of his spinal fluid was cancer.
Cancer has affected every part of our life. We have three other children who are also battling in this journey. We are constantly at doctor’s appointment or in the hospital for admissions. Our other children have to be shuffled around and often miss time with us, their parents. We try the best we can to keep life as normal for the other children but some times it isn’t possible. We allow Mikah to do anything he feels up for. If that means he wants to play baseball or swim or hang out with his friends and family, we allow it. The last time we were hesitant to say yes to too many things but this time around we don’t know what the future holds and we don’t want to have any regrets. Mikah and our other children are extremely strong. We trust that God has a plan for each of their lives.
-Sarah Carney, mother
