Family Comes Together-Young Boy Battles Leukemia

Imagine being 5 years old, playing outside in your backyard, life going along as usual. Then the very next day your life is turned upside down. Five-year-old Sunnyside youngster Emilio Isiah Remy Bueno knows exactly what that is like. However, the ending of Emilio’s story is still being written as he battles leukemia.

Emilio doesn’t have an idea what Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is. The sparkling 5 year old only knows something is wrong with his body. ALL is one of the forms of blood cancer caused by problems with bone marrow that is extremely common in young children under the age of 19 throughout the United States. The malfunctioning bone marrow leads to the production of less than normal blood cells used to fight disease, explained Emilio’s father Johnny. The good news for Emilio is it looks as if he won’t be facing a bone marrow transplant, as he has made some remarkable strides, his dad added.
Emilio’s journey began on June 25 following something as common as a nosebleed. Just the night before Emilio had been outback in his family’s yard enjoying a barbecue with some friends.

“He had a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop,” explained his dad when recounting the fateful afternoon that would change his family’s life.

At first Johnny thought his son was having a nose bleed because of the searing heat outside. But even after having his son lay down for a while, the nosebleed wouldn’t stop. Johnny decided to take Emilio to the hospital in Sunnyside after he couldn’t get the nose bleed to stop.

At the hospital, Johnny said, doctors ran tests on Emilio and were finally able to bring the nosebleed under control.

“They (hospital officials) told us they found something that shouldn’t have been there,” Johnny recounted.

After making a call to the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, it was decided Emilio should be rushed across the other side of the mountains to receive more advanced medical treatment. Emilio was ushered away with his aunt Yolanda in an ambulance from Sunnyside to Seattle. Johnny and Emilio’s mom, Betty, followed closely behind wondering what was happening to their son.

“It was a very weird feeling I didn’t know what type of road I was traveling with my son,” said Johnny. “It made me think if I was a good father to my son.”

“I thought he was going to die,” said Emilio’s mom. “I didn’t think they were going to cure him.”

Upon arriving at the Children’s Hospital, Emilio was immediately placed in a room and his family was housed at a local hotel, with the assistance of staff, while trying to find out what was wrong with the local youngster. Emilio had to endure a number of tests at the hospital, said his dad, including having a needle inserted into his back and his bone marrow was tested. The next afternoon, Johnny and Betty heard the dreadful news parents always fear. There was something wrong with their son, he had leukemia.

“Just hearing the word leukemia scared us,” said Johnny. “It totally turned our world upside down.”

Test reveleaded that the leukemia had contamined 97 percent of Emilio’s body, said his dad. The good news, though, said Johnny, is that ALL is 80 percent curable.

“They (the doctors) said the one (leukemia) he caught was the one to get,” said Johnny.

Johnny said there were no signs his son had leukemia. He said doctors told him and his wife Emilio catching the disease wasn’t something they did wrong as parents.

“The only thing he ever had was a bloody nose,” said Johnny. “I never thought of anything else. We (my family members) always had bloody noses.”

Betty said doctors told her ALL is more common in boys than girls and the treatment also takes longer.
Doctors began treatment on Emilio immediately, added Betty. He was given a series of medications to take and had a port installed in the left side of his chest. Betty said the port, which is a round tube of sorts, allows doctors to treat Emilio quicker with medicines than if it was not there. Emilio also had to start taking steroids to help hold up his immune system as he battles leukemia.

One of the most trying treatments Emilio had to endure, said Johnny, was chemotherapy. The chemotherapy treatment involved Emilio having to be held down while nurses injected two doses of the treatment into each of his legs.This was done, said Johnny, because by injecting the chemo into the muscles in his legs it allow the treatment to take effect faster.
While the projection was grim at first, with doctors telling Johnny and Betty that their son might have to have a bone marrow transplant, Emilio is seemingly overcoming the odds and making the fast road to recovery.

“The doctors gave us six to eight months to be at the hospital,” said Johnny. “But our son has been responding so well.”

One of the nurses, who the family just knows effectionately as nurse Karen, kept the faith with Emilio. Johnny said Karen said a goal of three weeks for Emilio to be at the hospital. Emilio had a remarkable turn around, said his dad, as only 4 percent of his son’s body is now contaminated with ALL, down from 97 percent just weeks earlier.

Emilio must have liked what nurse Karen had to say as nearly three weeks later he was released from the hospital to stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle. The Ronald McDonald House in Seattle serves as a home to parents who have children being treated at Children’s Hospital.

“Being there (Ronald McDonald House) I felt a little akward,” admitted Johnny. “My pride got in the way. I didn’t want anyone to see me being weak.”

Once inside Ronald McDonald House Johnny immediately discovered his situation with Emilio was much better than some parents were facing.

“I thought we were down on our luck, but there were cases worse than my son,” said Johnny.
Both Johnny and Betty have nothing but appreciation for the staff at Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House.

“The staff at the hospital was 100 percent awesome,” added Johnny. “I really applaud the staff.”

“They were always there to listen to you,” added Betty. “The staff at Ronald McDonald house was very nice. They try to make you feel at home.”

Betty said what surprised her the most was how well her son has been doing.

“I just had a lot of hope things were going to get better,” Betty said.

“If our son wasn’t responding well to the treatment he would be looking at a bone marrow transplant,” said Johnny. “I had put my faith in the Lord. I know life is a gift from him. I as a parent want to see my children live long lives.”

Emilio was able to come back home from Seattle in late July. His journey is not over yet, though. Emilio has to still travel every Tuesday to Seattle to receive treatment to ensure the leukemia is being dealt with properly. This will happen every Tuesday until November when Emilio and his family will have to go back to Ronald McDonald House to live during November and December. Emilio will be receiving more intense treatments to battle the leukemia during the holidays, said Johnny. Due to the intensity of the treatments, he needs to be close to Children’s Hospital, explained Betty.

Once Emilio comes home from Seattle at the beginning of the year, if all goes to plan, Johnny said he will have to be monitored for the next three years to ensure he is leukemia free. This will include frequent trips to the Children’s Hospital.
Emilio said he isn’t sure what ALL is, but he does know something is wrong with him based on what his father told him. Emilio said he remembered thinking a blood clot was going to come out when he initially had his bloody nose. Emilio said he doesn’t remember much of the ambulance ride to Seattle with his aunt.

“I was asleep” said Emilio.

Betty said her son was tired during the ambulance ride because he had lost a lot of blood from the nosebleed.
The brave 5 year old said he wasn’t scared at the hospital, but there was one thing he didn’t really like.

“I hated the medicine,” he smiled.

However, the youngster knows he needs to take the treatments at the hospital. “So my blood can get better,” he said.

Emilio said he wasn’t scared at the hospital because of the people who came there to see him.

“My family and friends were there,” said Emilo, adding he missed everyone while he was in Seattle.

Once he was out of the hospital, Emilio and his family were able to take advantage of some of the activities offered at Ronald McDonald House. Emilio was able to go to the zoo for the first time and the aquarium in Seattle. He also went to Pike’s Market, but his favorite event was attending a Seattle Mariners baseball game. The often shy 5 year old didn’t have a particular reason why the baseball game was his favorite, only offering a smile when asked about it.

There was one particular reason why Emilio wanted to come home more than anything else, said his dad. Emilio wanted to see “Jedi,” which is his pug dog that didn’t have the energy to eat all that much while he was in the hospital.

“He said I didn’t take care of him well,” said Betty.

There has been many issues Johnny, Betty and Emilio’s aunt Yolanda have had to deal with since Emilio has become sick. Johnny said it has been difficult for them to find time to dedicate to their other three children, especially when Emilio was in Seattle.

“That has been a struggle,” said Johnny, who added his oldest daughter, Devina, was a great help.

“At first it was very hard,” added Betty. “I didn’t know what was going to happen one day to the next.”
Yolanda, who spent much of the first weeks in Seattle with Emilio while Johnny and Betty tried to take care of issues with their family and son, said it was hard to see her favorite nephew sick in the hospital.

“That was hard for me seeing him like that in Seattle,” said Yolanda. “It seemed like when I left him (there to come back home to Sunnyside) I was leaving my life there.”
Yolanda said it was great news when she heard Emilio was coming home sooner than expected from Seattle.

“It was the best news I ever got,” she smiled. “I am glad he is home. I would rather have him here than over there.”
As for Emilio he just had one word to describe being home with his family, friends and his dog, Jedi.

“Happy!”