Fight like a Girl

Alexa (aka "Pixie") is a 12 year old sixth grader in Concord, NH. She was diagnosed with High Risk precursor B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia(ALL) in April 2010. She lives with her mother and grandparents and is in remission and currently in treatment at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth. Her mum is documenting the highs and lows of this challenging road from cancer patient to cancer survivor.

Neutrophils= are a type of white blood cell that fight bacteria and fungus in the body. These are the first wave of attack the body sends out when there is something that shouldn't be in the body. So if you cut yourself, get a splinter, or get germs in your body, these attack all that. These are what make pus when you get a cut or splinter, its the neutrophils zooming to the spot and killing off the germs.

B cells=a white blood cell that makes antibodies and attaches to "pathogens" (anything that isnt supposed to be in the body, like germs) and kills them. These cells also remember certain germs or viruses (like chicken pox) so they can fight it off faster if it gets in the body again. The cancer was causing Alexa's B cells to not mature so they could do this, instead just creating lots and lots of immature cells.

ANC="Absolute Neutrophil Count"- this is one of the important parts of Alexa's blood work. This tells us how her immune system is doing. A normal ANC is 1,500 to 8,000. Alexa's is much lower during treatment. So far hers stays between 500 and 2,000. When it gets to 500 or less she is "severely neutropenic", which means her body cannot fight infection and she is at risk. This is why it is very important that people who are sick stay away from her and that EVERYONE ASK before coming to visit her. Also, handwashing and using hand sanitizer is a MUST for her and everyone who comes in contact with her.

Platelets=These are a part of our blood which clots our blood when we get cut. The leukemia caused Alexa's bone marrow to make so many baby B cells that there was no room for anything else. Her chemotherapy drugs kill off these in her blood while they try to kill off the sick cells so she is at risk for bleeding uncontrollably from cuts or other injuries when that happens.