In honor of Jiselle Arrington
Jiselle Arrington was only eight months old, when her mother, Nakia, knew something was wrong. “Jiselle was an active baby, and suddenly, she wasn’t,” Arrington explains.
“Jiselle developed a cough that led to numerous pediatric visits and a visit to the E.R. that resulted with a prescription for an inhaler. When nothing was working, I took her to the doctor’s office and asked them to please check her labs, so blood tests were run. The results showed a massive white
blood cell count.”
“We immediately brought her to UNC where a diagnosis of leukemia was confirmed. She was in the ICU for a week and a half.” Jiselle would stay in the inpatient unit of N.C. Children’s Hospital for 3 months, undergoing intensive chemotherapy. Now 18 months old, Jiselle’s visits are to the outpatient clinic. If all goes well, she will complete her chemotherapy in 2010.
“Our care at UNC has been great,” Nakia notes. “Drs. Gold and Blatt, the nurses, they’re all wonderful, very professional and knowledgeable.”
Nakia, and her husband, Vincent, are Marines, but are inactive at present to care for Jiselle and their two other children, Carmine, 2, and Caito, 3.