
Henry Lawrence (left) with nurse coordinator, Shauna Sinclair. Henry received care for aggressive acute myeloid leukemia as part of Seattle Children’s High-Risk Leukemia Program.
There are two fateful phone calls Robin Lawrence will always remember.
The first, an unexpected late-night call from her son’s pediatrician. He had just reviewed the results from his recent blood work, and something was off. The doctor instructed Robin to immediately take then 13-month-old Henry to the nearest children’s hospital to get it checked out. He said that they had to consider it could be cancer.
She remembered thinking in the moment, “That’s ridiculous. Of course, he doesn’t have cancer.”
Days later, Henry was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive childhood cancer.
The second call occurred not long after Henry’s leukemia returned for a third time. At the time, Henry was in between treatments. Another round of chemotherapy had temporarily put the cancer into remission, but the Lawrences knew the statistics were not in their favor. The likelihood the leukemia would come back was high.
Their conversation was the first of many with Dr. Todd Cooper, co-interim division chief of Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and director of Seattle Children’s High-Risk Leukemia Program, as part of a second opinion service the program offers.
By the end of the call, Robin and her husband, David, knew Seattle Children’s was the best place for Henry should the cancer ever come back. In the coming weeks, they decided to move from their home in Southern California to Seattle for Henry’s medical care.
“When we talked to Dr. Cooper, it was very clear to us that Seattle Children’s is on the forefront of cutting-edge research and treatments for pediatric high-risk leukemia,” Robin said. “Our son’s cancer was in remission, but we understood that it was very likely to recur. We wanted to be in Seattle, ready to get whatever the best care for Henry would be when that time came.” Read full post »