Lucas was born on May 2, 2007 in Fort Stewart GA. His father my husband at the time was deployed to Iraq for 18 months only 18 days after Lucas was born. At age 5 months Lucas started to get very ill with vomiting and lethargy so we rushed him to the hospital where they ran some tests and transported us down to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. They diagnosed him with Hydrocephalus. They tried many brain surgeries to try and prevent him from being committed to a shunt. unfortunately none of those were the solution so on June 8, 2008, Lucas had a permanent life long VP shunt placed into his brain which tunnels down to his belly and drains his CSF. At 12 months old Lucas started to refuse all food and fluids so I took him to the ER worried about dehydration. They ran lots of tests and admitted us because they thought he had a pneumonia and his platelets were extraordinarily high. So a few days later they performed an ultrasound on his stomach and right away the doctor came in and said pack your things you have to go to Pittsburgh. When we got to Pittsburgh they called for us to be admitted to the Oncology floor...my heart sank. Lucas the next day went into surgery for a mediport placement and an open biopsy of his liver...results came back a few days later. Lucas was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hepatoblastoma (a very very rare form of liver cancer). His entire liver was tumor with the biggest tumor being the size of a softball. They decided that the best and only option was for Lucas to undergo 3 rounds of chemotherapy followed by a liver transplant and after that 3 more rounds of clean up chemotherapy. Chemo started right away. This is May 2008 (2 weeks after his first birthday). The chemo was every week for a month and the next month a new round would start. While being admitted for his 3rd round I got the call that they received a cadaver liver for Lucas!!! So Lucas was admitted for a liver transplant not chemo!! Lucas went in for his liver transplant on August 5, 2008 and we waited anxiously for 15 hours...finally his surgeon came in and said we just cant get the hepatic artery to connect. He was clotting off the main artery to the liver and they couldn't get it to unblock. So Lucas lay there for 10 days on life support just waiting for that clot to break but no luck. SO on the 10th day August 15, 2008 I donated the left lobe of my liver to Lucas and it worked perfectly!! After Lucas got to come home his father my now ex husband left us and we haven't heard from him since. Lucas had his 4 rounds of clean up chemo and he did excellent. Later Lucas started to get very ill and vomit everything up and very lethargic and I got every diagnosis under the sun. Finally he was diagnosed. Lucas' liver had formed scar tissue where they cut it out from me and caused his bile duct to turn in instead of connecting to his small bowel which was essentially poisoning his body with bile. So many procedures and bags and tubes etc later they decided he needed bile duct reconstruction surgery...a surgery only performed 5 times EVER. The surgery went great and everything worked...the anesthesiologist came in and said his blood sugar dropped low during surgery but they fixed it. The surgery was 12 hours long. So the next day they extibated Lucas and I was so happy! Later that night Lucas started to have an apneic seizure. They rushed him to CT scan and found that Lucas suffered a stroke FROM HIS BLOOD SUGAR DROPPING TO 4, yes 4! They immediately intubated him and rushed him to MRI but while they were doing this they sat me down and told me to say my goodbyes and to tell him that I love him because this stroke was so massive that he would never be able to breath again on his own. The entire back of his brain had stroked out. They said IF he ever woke up that he would be completely blind, never walk, have no motor skills etc again. They rushed him into surgery and removed the back part of his skull(which they have not put back on nor will they ever). Lucas was kept in a medically induced coma for 5 days to measure the swelling. Lucas ICP never went above normal! They extibated Lucas and guess what...HE COULD BREATH AND HE COULD SEE ME!! He amazed everyone. Lucas' blood sugar had dropped to "4" during that surgery...something that was hidden from me. So Lucas spent 2 months in a rehab facility in Pittsburgh learning how to walk, talk, eat, everything again...and it only took him a few weeks to get a grasp on all that! He actually started riding a bike in the facility! Lucas finally got to go home after 4 long months in Pittsburgh (June 2010-Sept2010). He was only 3 years old at the time. Lucas had lived the next 2 years normal started school played t-ball soccer basketball etc...everything a normal little boy would do. I saw a mass starting to form on his head where they removed the skull it had been there for a little while but they assumed it was fluid from surgery. During a routine CT scan checking for cancer, they found a mass in the exact spot. July 2012 Lucas was diagnosed with a Desmoid tumor on his head...first tumor of this kind they have ever seen in the head. On August 27, 2012 Lucas went through yet another surgery to have this tumor removed. HE did awesome!! There were 2 positive margins but the tumor is benign but these type of tumors do have the possibility of coming back. On January 8, 2013 Lucas had his first follow up MRI since the tumor removal and the doc said it was "gorgeous"!!!!!!! Most recently Lucas now has a big baby brother named Noah who is 2 years old. They are the best of friends. On Friday, August 12, 2016 Lucas, Noah, and I were downtown in line at his favorite barber shop to get his hair cut for a birthday party we were to attend the next day. Lucas started to complain of being blind in his right eye and I thought he was getting a migraine so I left the barber shop and took him to my truck. I told him to hold onto the stroller his brother was in so I could open the doors and get him home. He could not see the stroller, so I panicked and called 911. I held onto my baby so tight and suddenly, Lucas went limp, stopped breathing and turned blue. I laid my Lucas on the sidewalk and performed CPR on him for about a minute, until 2 angels came and took over for me. These angels saved my Lucas and got him breathing again. He was rushed to Hamot for testing and eventually rushed back down to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for more testing. We spent 4 days there and he was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Now Lucas is on a high dose of anti epileptic medication which makes him groggy and grumpy and he hates his new restrictions because he just wants to be like all the other normal kids. Now you can see why Lucas is my miracle and my hero...Lucas is honestly my best friend and my world would not be complete without him in it! Lucas is 12 years cancer free! If you saw Lucas you would NEVER know any of this has happened to him besides all of the scars all over his body. He is a normal 13 year old boy who loves to run jump play sports be outside etc etc. Prayers are what got us thru all of it though so please continue to pray pray pray your hearts out! PLEASE SEND CARE PACKAGES, CARDS, OR ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO LIFT LUCAS' SPIRITS Please message me for details.
