The journey Begins...

It was February 4, 2003, we went bowling & had lunch with Stephen's best friend Nikolas & his mom. It was a great morning.  At 2pm we had a scheduled doctors appointment because Stephen woke up with unexplainable black & blues on his wrist & legs.

Our pediatrician suggested we go to Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital to have blood work done.  "You can make an appointment or just go to ER," she said.

I chose not to wait and went right to the ER .

After Stephen's blood was drawn, we read a few books and played I-Spy while waiting for the results.

The doctors came and told me to follow them into a treatment room In the back of the unit.

 First, they told me to sit down & then explained that Stephen's white blood cell count was very high & that he had Leukemia or Lymphoma & needed to be admitted into ICU immediately!

I literally fell off the chair.

They rushed Stephen up to ICU where the nurses were getting him ready for what would be the fight of his life.