Kyle w/ the Harlem Globetrotters- 2011
Kyle Updates
November 12, 2015
It has been quite a while since I last posted an updated on the website for Kyle. He now goes in for check-ups every 2 months. Kyle is doing well and just finished up fall baseball. He will begin playing basketball in the coming weeks.
We are so very blessed that Kyle is doing well.
November 28, 2014
Kyle has continued to go in for monthly check-ups. His white blood cell counts and ANC have remained lower than what we would all like but there are no signs of cancer. We are so thankful for that.
Kyle is excited to be able to play basketball for the very first time this winter. He wasn't able to over the past 4+ years due to germs, contact and more. He starts practices up soon. He will also be participating in winter baseball camps.
He continues to do very well in school. He is now in 5th grade and is a patrol and is playing the baritone in band. I am not sure if playing is the correct term.
August 29, 2014
We are pleased to announce that Kyle is doing well. His 3 plus years of treatment ended back in late January. He continues to have monthly check-ups and his bloodwork and check-ups have looked good since going off of treatment. He has a little over a year to go to get to the 5 year mark where they would consider his cancer cured. Please continue to keep Kyle in your prayers.
Kyle is excited to start fall baseball and the 5th grade. We had an incredible summer with Kyle's make a wish trip to Orlando. A huge thank you to Make-A-Wish as the trip was an incredible experience. Kyle, Robert and Maddie rode pretty much every ride there is to ride in Orlando over the six day trip. Please also check out the Give Kids the World resort website when you get a chance. It is amazing what people can do when they work together.
Give Kids the World- http://www.gktw.org/
Make A WIsh- http://midatlantic.wish.org/
March 24, 2014
Kyle is doing well. He has started practices for baseball. He had his surgery to remove his port about three weeks ago. He recently had his first check-up since ending treatment and everything looked great.
We met with the volunteers with the Make-A-Wish foundation last night. What an incredible organization. Kyle is hoping to take a trip to Disney World. He has never been. We went as a family before Kyle was born and then had plans to go before Kyle was diagnosed. We hope to go either this summer or fall.
January 26, 2014
KYLE IS DONE WITH TREATMENT AT THE CLINIC. His last day was a mix of IV chemo's at the clinic that ended with an spinal tap at Fairfax Hospital. He still has another 10 days or so of oral chemo at home every day. His favorite treatment day is when he gets to take a nap. That treatment is every third treatment he receives at the clinic/hospital. That treatment is a spinal tap. Wow! He normally wakes up from his spinal tap and asks if he can go to school or if he can go to baseball practice or play with a friend. We do our best to follow orders and keep him still after treatments. His attitude has amazed us all since day one. I am not sure how we would have handled all of this without Kyle's amazing strength and positive attitude.
We have come a long way! We still have a long way to go. The Doctors do not talk about a cure until the patient remains in remission for up to 2 years after treatment ends. The photo above of Kyle fishing was taken about 2 days before our lives changed forever. It was taken when Kyle had Leukemia and we didn't even know it. In fact, he had a large amount of blasts in his body and was initially diagnosed as High Risk.
Kyle was a little lethargic in his baseball laps and around the house and seemed to be a little more tired than normal. His coloring was a little bit off as well. That was it. Those were the symptoms. We have learned so much in the past 40+ months. We have learned more than we wanted to about pediatric cancer. We now see that cancer in a child is not as rare as everyone thinks. We know that pediatric cancer research is severely under-funded at only 4% of the overall cancer research budget. It still amazes me that we can't get this country and this world to wake-up and rally behind this cause!
We have been able to put forth some efforts to try and be a part of the solution to help cure childhood cancer. I don't even remember what life was like before Kyle had cancer. I don't remember what life was like before Kyle's Kamp. Kyle's Kamp was created at the Hospital as a website to communicate to people how Kyle was doing after he was diagnosed. It has turned into so much more than that.
I pray with Kyle every single night about pediatric cancer and other items. I pray for Kyle. I pray for Robert and Maddie and our family. I pray for Gavin, Shayla, Gabriella and others who have passed away from this dreaded disease. I pray for Mathias, Sabrina, Carter, Connor, Reed, Tara, Hope and other children who are battling cancer. I pray for the families and close friends of all of those who have been affected by cancer.
Help us find a cure! If not you, then WHO?
November 14, 2013
Kyle has been home from school over the past couple of days with some type of stomach virus. He had a rough night on Tuesday. He seems to be doing much better today. He is doing very well in school and is looking forward to finishing treatment in late January/early February. He has 3 treatments left. He started in early October 2010. Oral chemo every single day at home and countless treatments at the clinic throughout that time. He wants to have a HUGE party in February when he is done!
Kyle finished up baseball in the fall with Fall Stars. He had a good season and his team was successful. He is excited to get going with baseball camps over the winter. He still cannot play basketball in an organized league with low numbers (contact, germs...). He would love to!
September 10, 2013
Kyle is doing well and is actually enjoying being back in school. He had his monthly treatment yesterday at the clinic and everything went smoothly. He continues to take oral chemo every night as well and is looking forward to completing his treatment in February 2014. He wants to have a HUGE party when he is done with treatment.
He started up fall baseball this past weekend and had a nice line drive hit in his first at bat. He is excited to have two of his buddies in his 4th grade class (Adam and Luke) and likes his new teacher. Maddie just started 8th grade and is doing very well and Robert is entering his sophomore year at Westfield HS. Robert hopes to play basketball and baseball again this year at WHS.
We had a tough summer as one of our heroes Gavin Rupp passed away. Gavin has been a big part of Kyle's Kamp and we will continue to honor Gavin moving forward. Gavin was 13 years old and battled brain cancer for 2 1/2 years. He always had a smile on his face and never complained. Gavin was a true warrior and he will remain in our hearts forever!
July 7, 2013
Kyle is doing well. Maddie and Robert have been out of town this week with friends so it has been Kyle, Kieran and I. We have done a lot of fun things this week. Kyle played his first round of golf (and second) this week. He loved it (especially the golf cart). His hair is getting really long and curly. He seems torn as he likes it long but it is tough on hot days.
Kyle had a great baseball season as his Clemson Tigers (AA) team won the SYA LL championship. He also was fortunate enough to play 8-9 special all stars. That team also made it to the championship game but lost to in a hard fought game.
Kyle's numbers have been steady for the past couple of months. We are thankful for that. He cannot swim in public pools but enjoys swimming at Pots and Grannie Annie's house. Kyle's maintenance treatment will end in February of 2014.
May 20, 2013
Please say a prayer for Kyle today. He has a long day with a spinal tap and other chemo treatments that are a part of his maintenance protocol. He is a trooper as always!
Kyle and the family had an incredible day at Nationals Park yesterday with the Kyle's Kamp event. The rain held off even though there was essentially a lock that it was supposed to rain throughout the day. There was certainly someone watching out for us! I know my mother had something to do with it along with the man upstairs.
Robert wasn't that far away from hitting one out with a wood bat at Nats Park during the game! It was a very special day.
May 12, 2013
HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY TO KYLE!!!
Kyle had a good birthday today. His numbers have been low lately so he has been home from school since the middle of last week. We are hoping and praying that they come up soon so that he can stay healthy, get back to school and attend the Kyle's Kamp Nationals Park event on Sunday, May 19th. He had to miss last year because of a virus and low numbers.
Kyle received some Lego's, a water balloon launcher, a knee hockey set and a lacrosse stick (don't worry he isn't giving up baseball). He loved his birthday party yesterday. His activities were based around a sports tournament with a variety of sports games with some friends. His AA team in SYA LL is doing very well and Kyle has had a good year. He enjoys pitching and playing 1B.
March 17th, 2013
Kyle is doing well. His ANC numbers have been in the right range over the past 6 weeks so they have upped his dosages back up close to the 100% range for his age/weight. There are times when he is not feeling great or overly tired in the mornings when he goes into school late or misses school all together.
Kyle's next treatment is this Friday, March 22nd. This session takes about half the day. Kyle is incredibly strong on his treatment days and never complains about going. A part of that is a testament to Children's National and the wonderful staff at the clinic and the hospital. We are hoping that Kyle is doing well on April 6th (Casino Night) and May 19th (Nats Park Event) so that he can go to the two big events associated with the KK Tournament. He hopes to make an appearance at Casino Night. It was devastating last year when the morning of the Nats Park event he went in for a check-up and we found out that he had a virus and that his ANC was almost 0. After all of that planning, Kieran and Kyle were not able to join us for that amazing day at Nats Park! We hope and pray that he will be able to attend this year.
January 11, 2013
We received some good news last Friday that Kyle's numbers had come back up. We were able to re-start his oral chemo treatment at home daily and he has returned to school. He is also been able to play in his KK basketball league on Fridays as well.
They re-started his oral chemo medications at 50% to see how his body reacts before they will increase his dosage again.
December 28, 2012
Kyle is just finishing another appointment today. We have had a long 2 - 3 weeks. Kyle's ANC counts have been low and he has been relegated to the house for most of that time. He has been off of all of his oral chemo during that time. His numbers are still low today so we are getting more and more nervous. It is also tough on Kyle in that we have had to be very careful over this time. He gets bored at home and wants to go to school and play with friends.
We were planning on heading to Wintergreen this weekend as a family but we will have to cancel those plans. I feel bad for Robert and Maddie as well because everyone was looking forward to going down there.
Kyle has another check-up in 2 weeks so it will be a long waiting period at home knowing that he is still off of oral chemo with low counts.
We are still very blessed for everything that God has given us over the past year and hope that we can get Kyle totally healthy over the last 14 months of his maintenance treatment.
November 18, 2012
Kyle is doing well. We all are getting ready for Thanksgiving and have been listening to Christmas music non-stop since it started on Friday. I actually got a little bit of grief today because I decorated the house for Christmas. Yes it is a little bit early but I had some time today so I figured I would get it done.
As we approach Thanksgiving, I realize that we have so much to be thankful for. It starts with how well Kyle has done over the past two years. We still have a long way to go but we certainly thank God for everything he has provided us. He has given our entire family great strength during this period. We also recognize that mom is watching out over Kyle and the rest of us.
I am very thankful for all of the wonderful people who have stepped up in a big way to make a difference in children's lives who are dealing with cancer. There are hundreds of families who have become involved with the tournament and supported these young children and their families. With the assistance of all of these volunteers and participants we have gotten a step close to curing childhood cancer. Thank you!
November 9, 2012
Kyle's treatment went well last Friday. He did get his IGG numbers tested and they found that his numbers were low. Those numbers indicated his bodies ability to fight off infections or viruses. Kyle went in on Thursday to receive IVIG treatment to help with those numbers and that treatment went well also.
Kyle's hair is getting long and curly again. It is about time for another hair cut.
Everyone is already getting ready for Christmas at the Hahne household. Maddie already has her 4' Christmas tree up in her room and decorated. We even watched the Grinch movie tonight. Maddie watches that movie about 10x each Holiday season. Our entire family also has the Charlie Brown DVD Holiday collection. It starts with Halloween and then goes to the Thanksgiving DVD.
October 30
Kyle has been doing well. He has a little bit of a lingering cough but it hasn't seemed to bother him much. He has treatment this Friday and they will be checking his IGG levels to make sure that they are not low. He would receive IVIG treatment if his numbers are low. That will help his body fight off any viruses. Kyle's baseball season ended this past Saturday with the Cardinals. We really enjoyed this team and Kyle had a great season!
We started our own mini-basketball league for Kyle this winter. He cannot play in a regular basketball league because of the contact and all of the germs. We will play every Friday night at Cub Run with a small group of friends. I made some Under Armour reversible jerseys for them with Wahoos on one side and Hokies on the other. We can divide the players up each week with the jerseys. We will augment the rules to make sure that the play isn't too rough and we will make sure that players are healthy and that they wash their hands prior to the game. We will also clean the court prior to each game.
Monday, September 10
Kyle is doing well and very excited for school and the fall baseball season. He started 3rd grade last week at Cub Run ES.
He had to miss his first Friday due to scheduled treatment. It was the month where his treatment included a spinal tap at the Hospital. It was a very long day but he did very well.
We didn't plan on him playing in his first fall baseball game on Saturday but he wasn't going to be denied playing. His fall team is the Cardinals and he selected #7 after Matt Holiday. He doesn't like Albert Pujols anymore because he left the Cardinals. His favorite player is still Ryan Matheus of the Nationals. Ryan took him on a very special trip of the Nationals locker room back in August. He is a certainly a wonderful role model and a great guy!
Going back to school brings about some nervous times for Kieran and I due to the exposure of all of the germs at school. We hope that parents in both Kyle's class and Cub Run ES will keep their kids at home when they are ill. It still blows my mind that some parents choose the route of convenience vs. the health of their own child and others. This is especially important for those whose systems are immune compromised like Kyle.
We had a wonderful time in the OBX in late August. Kyle had a blast with all of his cousins from Kieran's side. We caught a lot of fish, played some putt-putt and rode a lot of waves. The kids created an aquarium built into the sand (hole) each day to house all of the fish we were catching off of the surf. I couldn't talk any of the kids into keeping the fish that were big enough to eat for dinner. They would keep them in their make shift aquarium and then release them back into the ocean.
The only curve-ball we experienced for the week was the mold we found in the vents of the original house we rented. It was a beautiful oceanfront house in Pine Island. It just wasn't kept as clean as it should have been and we had to move because of the mold exposure to Kyle and the rest of us. It took us a day to move houses but it was well worth it to move up to Corolla Light.
Kieran is teaching at Westfield HS this year and Robert is a freshman there. Robert wasn't too thrilled about this change but I think he is slowly getting used to it. Maddie started middle school at Stone and is doing well.
Wednesday, August 8
Sorry for the long delay in updates.
Kyle is doing well. His hair is coming back in slowly and we hope that it will be fully back before school starts.
Kyle has had a relaxing summer. We did get to go up to the Wintergreen house for a couple of days for one of Robert's baseball tournaments. He really enjoyed that since he hasn't been to Wintergreen since he was diagnosed.
Kyle had a special day last week. Robert, Kyle and I participated in a baseball camp on the Washington Nationals field with the Nationals coaching staff last Thursday. After the camp, Ryan Matheus (relief pitcher) invited Kyle back to the locker room to look around and meet Davey Johnson (Manager). Kyle took a couple of his buddies and they had an amazing experience.
We have enjoyed following the Nationals success this season. It makes it even more special with the Nationals participating in Kyle's tournament.
Kyle is very much looking forward to going to Pine Island, NC (OBX) on August 17th. We hope and pray that he will be feeling well and can make the trip. We will be going with Kieran's brother and sister's families. He is looking forward to putt-putt, fishing, beach time and more...
Kyle does have treatment this Friday so we say a prayer that everything goes well. He continues to do very well with his oral chemo that he takes at home daily.
Tuesday, June 12th
As you can imagine we have had a busy month.
Memorial Day weekend was a very long weekend. As we were preparing to haul everything to Nationals Park on Friday, May 24th we found out that Kyle had walking pneumonia and an ear infection. That was very scary and it was unfortunate because it meant that Kyle couldn't come out to his event that we had been planning for 8 months. The good news is that he has recovered from both.
He had to take closed to 2 weeks off of all oral chemo and med's so that his numbers could recover. He also stayed out of school.
He is back in school now but has had a couple of other slight issues. Nobody knows exactly why but all of his hair started to fall out again last week. It is a good thing that he is so laid back because he doesn't seem to care. He takes it all on stride. That includes when others make comments about it.
Over the weekend he developed a large mouth sore and it seemed to be fairly painful. He seems to be doing a little bit better now after a day or two of some Magic Mouthwash.
Kyle is very excited about playing in the AA Championship game on Saturday at 9 am at Cub Run Elementary. If anyone wants to come out and cheer him and his teamates on, I am sure he would love the support! It is like the World Series to him.
Tuesday, May 22nd
Kyle did well with treatment on Friday. He has had a bunch of bloody noses in the past few days but we hope that they have now subsided.
The whole family is looking forward to the tournament this weekend!
Thursday, May 17th
Kyle has treatment tomorrow (Friday). Please say a prayer for him for everything to go well.
He had a great game this evening with baseball. Baseball continues to be a wonderful outlet for Kyle.
Wednesday, May 9
Kyle woke up today with a stomach ache. He went back to sleep for a while and ended up feeling good enough for school at around 11 am. He is a trooper. A few times a month he wakes up either over-tired or with a stomach ache. It is due to the medications and treatments.
He is really enjoying baseball and is looking forward to the tournament over Memorial Day weekend. He has been playing in 2 - 3 games per week and loving every minute of it. He really enjoys pitching. AA is the first time that players get the opportunity to pitch.
School is going well. He has an orientation at another elementary school on Friday. We had a talk with him about that the other day. He will most likely stay at Cub Run because his friends are there and everyone does a good job of taking care of him. It is also right across the street from our house for days that he may not be feeling that well.
Friday, 4/27
Kyle had a rough day yesterday. I picked up him from school because he had vomitted at around 12 noon. He proceeded to get sick for the next 3 - 4 hours.
The good news is that he seems much better today. Kieran stayed home with him today. We are hoping that he is over it and can resume normal activities tomorrow. He really wants to play in his baseball game tomorrow morning.
Monday, 4/23
We had a great weekend.
We had over 250 people at the Kyle's Kamp Casino Night and raised upwards of $40,000.
Kyle had treatment on Friday and everything went well. He then proceeded to have a great baseball game on Saturday. He hit what I would call a AA Home Run. It was more like a double with a throwing error but it was a Home Run in Kyle's book and that is all that matters. Kyle also threw out a shutout inning on the mound with 2 K's. That was the first time he has ever pitched in a game.
We kept him from school today because there has been a couple of cases of Chicken Pox at his school recently. As I have stated in previous updates, we have become even more cautious about sending Kyle to school lately. This is due to all of the stories we have been hearing about parents sending their children to school sick. It is truly a shame that some parents think about themselves and what is most convenient for them rather than the well-being of their own child or other children.
Tuesday, 4/17
Kyle played his first baseball game on Saturday and had a blast! That is until I hit him twice while pitching to him. He was very tough. I obviously felt very bad about it.
He continues to do well in school and is excelling in all subjects. It is very nice to see that he actually enjoys school.
Robert, Kyle and I kept up our tradition of going to the Nationals Opening Day game. That obviously meant no school since they played at 1:05 pm but we make an exception for that day every year. We all had a great time and enjoyed the Nats big win. Kyle is really getting into watching baseball.
Kieran, Kyle and Maddie went to Target last night and Kyle got a Ninjago lego helicopter. He got home and proceeded to spend close to 2 full hours putting it together. He didn't leave the kitchen table until it was finished.
Monday, 3/19
Kyle continues to do well. He has been very active the past week or so since the weather has been so nice. It is tough for us to keep him down because all he wants to do is play basketball, baseball, soccer, football outside. We are obviously very pleased that he is so eager to play outside and be active.
He has had 3 practices for baseball with the Yellow Jackets so far and absolutely loves it. He can't wait for Opening Day on April 14th!
We have gone through some uncomfortable times in the past couple of weeks. We are getting updates on how parents continue to send their sick kids to school. You would NOT believe some of the stories we have heard. Kieran talked to all of the parents in Kyle's class at Back to School night but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference with many of the parents. Parents are sending their kids back to school the same day that they vomitted, had a fever or had diarrhea. This obviously affects more kids than just Kyle.
It is just really frustrating when parents take the convenient route and send their poor kids to school when they are sick. This is obviously very dangerous to kids like Kyle who have a comprimised immune system. We have had to keep Kyle home from school several days when he is feeling fine just to keep him away from the kids who are sick but still at school. I would hope that anyone who reads this would help spread the word about the importance of keeping your kids home when they are sick, washing hands and more...
It has put Kieran and I in a very uncomfortable position because what are we supposed to do? If we write a letter or call these specific parents (some of which we know) it looks like we only care about our son. We do have another letter going home with the kids in Kyle's class that Child Life at the Hospital put together for us. We hope that this will finally get some of these parents attention.
I cannot begin to tell you how thankful we are that Kyle has a teacher like Mrs. Scoville. She takes such great care of Kyle and all of her students. She also pushes them to work hard and inspires them to learn in very creative ways. Mrs. Scoville is truly Teacher of the Year in our book.
Sunday, 2/26
Kyle had treatment on Friday. He also had a numbers check. We did receive the good news that his liver function results had dropped lower. They are still somewhat elevated but trending in the right direction. His treatment went well and he came home feeling fine.
We selected his baseball team on Friday evening. Kyle was very excited to have a lot of his friends on his AA team (Adam, Luke, Blake, Jenna, Harrison, Lahe...). His team is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He is ready to get going with practices. He wanted GA Tech because UVA wasn't available.
Kyle is the only player who is league age 7 playing in AA (player pitch) so he is a little young. I wanted to keep him in Machine Pitch but he wanted to move up with his friends and be challenged by player pitch. He also wants to pitch which makes us a little bit nervous because we have to be careful about him getting hit with a ball.
Overall, he is doing great and always has a smile on his face.
Sunday, 2/12
Kyle is doing fairly well. He has been at school and is excited to get started with baseball this spring. He has tryouts in a little over a week.
His liver function tests have still been a little bit high but again that is not abnormal with all of the chemo treatment he has. He had a check-up on Friday. His ANC immunity numbers are a little low right now but that has been consistent. They are typically the lowest right in between his monthly heavy treatments. He still has oral chemo treatments daily at home.
We have been a little bit nervous about how his port area has looked over the past couple of days but we called in and sent in a picture and the Dr. wasn't concerned. Hopefully it was just because it was accessed on Friday at his check-up.
His energy and attitude continue to be really good. It is hard to believe with everything that he has gone through but he is hard to keep down with anything.
Sunday, 1/29
Kyle had a big day of treatment on Friday. Things went well. His liver function numbers were still a little bit high which concerns us but they aren't too high where he needs to stop treatment. The main reason for the high numbers is that the liver is working extra hard to take in all of the chemo and med's that are going in his system.
He did have to get IGG treatment again to help fight off viral illnesses. He has had somewhat of a persistant cough over the past few weeks. This treatment should help with that. It does take quite a while. We were at treatment for over 4 hours on Friday.
Kieran and I had been a little bit concerned about Kyle's cognitive development with all of the chemo and more importantly the cranial radition he went through last December. Both can have affects on cognitive development. Combine that with being out of school for almost all of last year and that is what brought about our concerns.
We did receive good news on that front on Saturday. We received Kyle's CoGAT test results from school and he did very well.
Friday, 1/27
Kyle has treatment this afternoon. Please say a prayer that everything goes well.
He has been doing well other than a little bit of a lasting cough. He is looking forward to baseball this spring. He hopes that he can get a bunch of his friends on his AA team.
He is also looking forward to the Memorial Day tournament.
Friday, 1/13
Kyle had a good week. He didn't feel well Monday morning and went into school late again but has felt well since. He has had a little bit of a dry cough this week.
He went home with Adam after school today and had a great time.
The winter is a fairly quiet time for him since there is no baseball or winter sports. He continues to do really well with his daily chemo pills. It does make it very easy on Kieran and I.
We are hoping to get up to Wintergreen for a night or two sometime this winter. Kyle has not been able to go up there since he was diagnosed. We tried to go over the Holiday break but Kyle had a big treatment day and the Doctor advised to have a quiet break at home.
Friday, 1/6
Kyle had a very busy day last Friday with treatment. It included a spinal tap. We ended up not going to Wintergreen and had a very quiet New Year's weekend which isn't all bad. The family time was great!
Kyle has had a good week. He had an upset stomach this morning so he was going to stay home from school. He ended up going back to bed but when he woke up he proclaimed "Dad, I want to go to school". I did end up taking him to school and he has felt fine since.
His curly hair is getting long so it is about time to get another hair cut. He hopes to do a baseball camp starting in February. He wanted to play basketball this winter but we couldn't let him because of the contact and all of the germs.
2011
Wednesday, 12/28
Kyle and our entire family had a wonderful Christmas! It was a little bit tough being our first Christmas without my Mom but we all banded together and had a nice holiday. We spent Christmas eve at Grandpa's house. We opened presents from Santa on Christmas morning at our house and then went over to Grannie Annie and Pots' house to open presents there with Kieran's family. Grannie Annie and Pots invited my side of the family over for Christmas dinner which was very nice. We had a great time!
Kyle's favorite gifts included:
- Nintendo 3DS
- Balloon animal kit
- Wii games
- Lego (Ninjago)
He said his favorite part of Christmas was spending time with his family! He seems to have it all straight because some of us forget about what Christmas is all about. We certainly appreciate that time more than ever.
Robert and Maddie were also very pleased with their Christmas gifts. Among other things, Maddie got her Uggs and Robert got all of his Nike block socks for b-ball. Robert was pretty easy to please this year.
Kyle has a big day of treatment on Friday that includes a spinal tap and more so please keep him in your prayers. He will be at the clinic most of the day as he does obviously get sedated for the spinal tap.
Friday, 12/16
We had a check-up today at the clinic with Kyle. It was basically a numbers check because both his ANC and his liver function numbers were up a little bit on 12/2. His numbers were actually a little bit low today so we will take it easy this weekend.
He is doing very well and enjoying school. He is obviously looking forward to Christmas.
We went to the Teardrops to Rainbows Christmas banquet on Wednesday and the entire family had a blast! The kids got to do a Build-A-Bear. They enjoyed the balloon animal artist the most. He was incredible and Kyle has now decided that he would like to become a balloon artist. In fact, he has now asked for a balloon animal kit so that he can learn.
Friday, 12/9
All of us Hahne's are still a little bit shocked and down at the news of Albert Pujols leaving for the Angels.
Kyle now says that the Angels are his favorite team. I am trying to talk him out of that and let him know that he can still like Albert Pujols but that the Cardinals and Nationals need to be our favorite teams.
We had a rough morning today. Kyle had an upset stomach and vomitted some as well. He did stay home from school and Pots saved the day and took great care of him. He seems to be doing much better as we are trying to get him to go to bed now but he is running and jumping around and playing with Robert.
We hope that it is not the flu or anything. Fortunately, he has not a fever at all. The next couple of months with cold and flu season are going to be tough. We are going to have to watch and make sure that none of our 3 kids are exposed to any illneses in other households. That usually means that nobody has been sick (cough, cold, vomit, flu, temp) in the past 72 hours or more.
We recognize that this will be even more difficult in school but we hope that parents won't send their children to school sick. We are fortunate to be at a great school at Cub Run and Kyle's teacher Mrs. Scoville is the best!
Maddie did a wonderful job in her choral performance at school this evening. She and I went out for Starbuck's afterwards to celebrate. Robert has a big day tomorrow with 2 basketball games.
Go Centreville HS Wildcats! They play for the state title tomorrow.
Sunday, 12/4
Kyle had a good weekend. He is excited about going to get a Christmas Tree today. Maddie is probably even more excited than he is. They both love Christmas time!
Friday, 12/2
Kyle has treatment today. He went to school until 12:30 pm and then went to the clinic for treatment. He doesn't like missing school. Treatment went well. His ANC numbers were actually a little bit high today at 2,400 when they were low at 650 just about 2 weeks ago.
They were going to up his med's a little bit to bring the ANC down a little bit because they like it between 750 - 1,500 during maintenance. They decided against it at this point because his liver function numbers were a little bit elevated so they want him to come back in 2 weeks and see where he is at that point.
He is doing well in school and Mrs. Scoville is taking very good care of him. He really enjoys it and is getting more excited about reading again after not reading quite as much since he was diagnosed.
We had a little bit of a scare of a couple of weeks ago. He had been limping ever since his last baseball game in early November so we were concerned. We took him into the clinic a couple of weeks ago but his numbers looked good and the x-ray of his leg looked okay as well. We were then referred to a sarcoma specialist which was a little nerve wracking but the Doctor wasn't concerned and actually found that Kyle's right leg is longer than his left. His limp is much better now. He will go back in about 3 months to do a full leg x-ray to see how the leg bone's compare at that point.
He really enjoyed playing baseball this fall and certainly feels a little bit more like a regular kid again. He did very well and didn't seem to lose much coordination or ability at all. He didn't quite have that normal Hahne speed ;) but that was probably due to the treatments and the leg issue. He wants to play AA in the spring.
We are very proud of Robert and Maddie as they have endured a long year as well. They are very good with Kyle for the most part and do well at tolerating Kyle when he starts something. They know they can't push, kick or punch him back.
We are really enjoying the Christmas music as we have it on 24/7. Maddie got her own Christmas tree in her room this year. She loves Christmas! We were able to get all of the decorations up early this year. Kyle keeps saying how Christmas is the best!
I will try to update the site at least once per week in the future.
Tuesday, 10/25
Kyle is getting ready for Halloween. He got to wear his red Ninja costume to Sean Keim's birthday party over the weekend. That was the first party that he has been to since September 2010. I was a little bit nervous with all of the other kids there but we certainly trusted the Keim's to take good care of him. He did great and had a blast!
Kyle is really enjoying baseball. He is doing very well and loves playing 1B and Pitcher. I am very surprised at how well he is doing with everything he has gone through over the past year.
We are rooting for the Cardinals in a big way! The losses over the past two nights were tough to handle but we are confident that the Cards can win the last two at home.
Kyle is doing very well in school and Mrs. Scoville is taking great care of him. I had lunch with him last Friday per his request. It was neat to see him back at school and interacting with his friends and classmates.
Friday 10/7
We just returned from Kyle's treatment. He had a very busy day that included a sedated spinal tap, Vincristine chemo, anti-biotics and a flu shot. His numbers looked very good and he did great! He got a McFlurry on the way home and declared that he is ready for a weekend full of baseball with Kyle's Kamp Columbus Day Tournament.
This is the first day that Kyle has missed school this year. He really wanted to go back to school for the last hour or so but I had to hold him back.
Tuesday, 10/4
We are preparing for the Kyle's Kamp Columbus Day Tournament. It starts up this Thursday and we are hoping to raise between $5,000 - $10,000 for Children's Hospital.
Kyle is doing well but has a big day of treatment coming up on Friday. We will be at the clinic most of the day as he has a spinal tap and other chemo treatments. Please say a prayer for Kyle.
Kyle is loving school and is doing very well in baseball as well. His immunity system is still somewhat compromised so we will continue to be careful with both school and baseball.
Kyle and I had a long conversation tonight before bed. It gave me a look into what Kyle thinks about at times with relation to his Leukemia. He asked "Dad, why can't Doctors just keep people from getting sick or hurt?". "Instead of fixing them, can't they just make it so we never get sick or hurt"? He certainly is getting back to more of a normal life but there is obviously still these type of thoughts in his head.
The tournament begins on the day that Kyle was diagnosed last year (10/6). We are so thankful that he is doing so well and we continue to pray that his long term treatment goes well.
Friday 9/23
Kyle is doing well. He has had a dry cough over the past few days so we are hoping that it clears up a little over the weekend. He is really enjoying school and was very excited to get Mrs. Scoville as his teacher. We are very thankful as well. Mrs. Scoville has gone out of her way to keep an eye out on Kyle. It certainly helps ease our concern over sending him to school. Kieran spoke to the parents in Kyle's class last evening at back to school night about Kyle and trying to keep kids home when they are sick since his immune system is still somewhat compromised.
Kyle has also started playing baseball again this fall and has had 3 games so far. His Machine Pitch team the Knights are doing very well. Kyle hasn't really shown any signs of coordination or strength issues which is somewhat expected with his treatments. He has gotten a lot slower but none of us Hahne's were ever really fast in the first place. It also makes me feel a little bit better because he has less chance of falling down or running into someone.
Kyle wears a heavily padded shirt under his jersey to protect his port and his stomach and chest area from getting hit by the balls. It is pretty bulky and probably inhibits him a little but it certainly gives us a little piece of mind. Even with all of this he still goes out and does very well both hitting and on defense. He likes 1B and Pitcher.
His next game is tomorrow at 1 pm at Cub Run ES. I will post his full schedule soon.
Sunday 9/4
Kyle is doing well. It has been a tough weekend with Grandma passing away late Thursday evening. I am not sure if Kyle totally understands but he did have a special bond with my mom. My mom came out and watched Kyle dozens of times over the past 10 months when he was home.
Kyle is eager to start school on Tuesday and even more eager to start playing baseball next weekend. I will update his schedule as soon as I have the updated version.
The schedule can also be found at www.syabaseball.org Go to schedules and look under Machine Pitch. We are team 3 (Knights).
Tuesday 8/17 8:30 pm
Kyle is doing well. His hair continues to grow back. He almost has a full head of hair at this point.
He had treatment this past Friday and did well. His heavy treatments at the clinic are now once per month. He still does have oral chemo every day at home and has oral steroids 5 days per month. The Maintenance Phase lasts a total of 2 1/2 years.
He has been cleared to play baseball this fall. I will be his coach for the Machine Pitch Knights in SYA. We hope that some of you can come out and watch some of his games this fall. He starts his games up in September.
We also plan on him going back to school. He will have to take days off when his numbers are down or when he receives treatment. We hope and pray that parents keep their kids home from school if they are ill. We all know that can be tough but it really hits home when you recognize that passing flu or virus germs when there is a child who is immune compromised can be very serious.
It also makes you realize the importance of washing hands well and frequently. I have probably washed my hands more in the past 10 months than I have the other 40+ years of my life ;).
I will be updating a number of pictures from the summer soon!
Sunday 11:30 am
Kyle is doing very well. We were actually able to go to Bethany Beach for 6 days. He had a blast!
More info coming...
Thursday 9 am
Kyle is doing well. He started his Maintenance Phase on Friday, July 15th. This phase lasts for 3 years adn includes oral chemo every night and steroids 5 days a month.
He also has IV or IT treatment once a month and check-ups every 2 weeks for the first several months.
His hair is growing back slowly and will need a haircut soon. He continues to be active and hopes to play baseball this fall.
Friday 8:30 am
Kyle did not make counts on Wednesday so he didn't start the Maintenance Phase yet. He goes back on Wednesday. His numbers were on the rise so we are hoping that he will be okay by next Wednesday.
He is still playing a lot of wiffle ball and is still very active. His hair is growing back slowly.
Tuesday 9 am
Kyle had a good weekend. We laid pretty low for most of fthe weekend. We did make it out to the Nelson's and Murray's annual July 3rd party. Kyle loved the fireworks and enjoyed playing with his friends.
We did miss the Render's on July 4th. They are at the beach. We normally go into Vienna for their celebration on the 4th. We did have a great time lighting off fireworks with the Winesett's last night.
I took Kyle fishing 3x over the weekend. He had been wanting to go for a while. He caught a total of 17 bass. One of them was almost 4 pounds and he caught at least 3 others that were over 2 pounds. He casts on his own and gets the fish to the shore all on his own.
Kyle is scheduled to start maintenance tomorrow. It all depends if his ANC is back up to 750. He has a busy day scheduled that includes a spinal tap and other procedures.
Friday 9 am
Kyle's Hg and Platelet numbers were good on Wednesday and he did not need a transfusion. His ANC was still verylow but it looked like that it may be on the rise.
Kyle played wiffle ball with the entire 12u SYA West all star team after their game last night and really enjoyed it.
Kyle is scheduled to start his 3 year Maintenance phase of treatment on Wednesday. His ANC would have to be 750 to start. It was only 110 on Wednesday.
Tuesday 9 pm
Kyle is doing okay. He has been a little lethargic lately as his numbers are still down. He goes for a numbers check and a prevention shottomorrow.
We hope that his numbers are on the way back up. We expect that he may need a blood transfusion tomorrow.
Robert, Maddie and I were at a Baseball Tournament in Delaware for Robert's team all weekend so Kyle and Kieran got a lot of quality time together. We were gone from Wednesday - Sunday so we all really missed Kyle andmom.
Kyle will start hisMaintenance Phase in a week if his numbers have recovered. Maintenance lasts for 3 years.
It has been quite a while since I last posted an updated on the website for Kyle. He now goes in for check-ups every 2 months. Kyle is doing well and just finished up fall baseball. He will begin playing basketball in the coming weeks.
We are so very blessed that Kyle is doing well.
November 28, 2014
Kyle has continued to go in for monthly check-ups. His white blood cell counts and ANC have remained lower than what we would all like but there are no signs of cancer. We are so thankful for that.
Kyle is excited to be able to play basketball for the very first time this winter. He wasn't able to over the past 4+ years due to germs, contact and more. He starts practices up soon. He will also be participating in winter baseball camps.
He continues to do very well in school. He is now in 5th grade and is a patrol and is playing the baritone in band. I am not sure if playing is the correct term.
August 29, 2014
We are pleased to announce that Kyle is doing well. His 3 plus years of treatment ended back in late January. He continues to have monthly check-ups and his bloodwork and check-ups have looked good since going off of treatment. He has a little over a year to go to get to the 5 year mark where they would consider his cancer cured. Please continue to keep Kyle in your prayers.
Kyle is excited to start fall baseball and the 5th grade. We had an incredible summer with Kyle's make a wish trip to Orlando. A huge thank you to Make-A-Wish as the trip was an incredible experience. Kyle, Robert and Maddie rode pretty much every ride there is to ride in Orlando over the six day trip. Please also check out the Give Kids the World resort website when you get a chance. It is amazing what people can do when they work together.
Give Kids the World- http://www.gktw.org/
Make A WIsh- http://midatlantic.wish.org/
March 24, 2014
Kyle is doing well. He has started practices for baseball. He had his surgery to remove his port about three weeks ago. He recently had his first check-up since ending treatment and everything looked great.
We met with the volunteers with the Make-A-Wish foundation last night. What an incredible organization. Kyle is hoping to take a trip to Disney World. He has never been. We went as a family before Kyle was born and then had plans to go before Kyle was diagnosed. We hope to go either this summer or fall.
January 26, 2014
KYLE IS DONE WITH TREATMENT AT THE CLINIC. His last day was a mix of IV chemo's at the clinic that ended with an spinal tap at Fairfax Hospital. He still has another 10 days or so of oral chemo at home every day. His favorite treatment day is when he gets to take a nap. That treatment is every third treatment he receives at the clinic/hospital. That treatment is a spinal tap. Wow! He normally wakes up from his spinal tap and asks if he can go to school or if he can go to baseball practice or play with a friend. We do our best to follow orders and keep him still after treatments. His attitude has amazed us all since day one. I am not sure how we would have handled all of this without Kyle's amazing strength and positive attitude.
We have come a long way! We still have a long way to go. The Doctors do not talk about a cure until the patient remains in remission for up to 2 years after treatment ends. The photo above of Kyle fishing was taken about 2 days before our lives changed forever. It was taken when Kyle had Leukemia and we didn't even know it. In fact, he had a large amount of blasts in his body and was initially diagnosed as High Risk.
Kyle was a little lethargic in his baseball laps and around the house and seemed to be a little more tired than normal. His coloring was a little bit off as well. That was it. Those were the symptoms. We have learned so much in the past 40+ months. We have learned more than we wanted to about pediatric cancer. We now see that cancer in a child is not as rare as everyone thinks. We know that pediatric cancer research is severely under-funded at only 4% of the overall cancer research budget. It still amazes me that we can't get this country and this world to wake-up and rally behind this cause!
We have been able to put forth some efforts to try and be a part of the solution to help cure childhood cancer. I don't even remember what life was like before Kyle had cancer. I don't remember what life was like before Kyle's Kamp. Kyle's Kamp was created at the Hospital as a website to communicate to people how Kyle was doing after he was diagnosed. It has turned into so much more than that.
I pray with Kyle every single night about pediatric cancer and other items. I pray for Kyle. I pray for Robert and Maddie and our family. I pray for Gavin, Shayla, Gabriella and others who have passed away from this dreaded disease. I pray for Mathias, Sabrina, Carter, Connor, Reed, Tara, Hope and other children who are battling cancer. I pray for the families and close friends of all of those who have been affected by cancer.
Help us find a cure! If not you, then WHO?
November 14, 2013
Kyle has been home from school over the past couple of days with some type of stomach virus. He had a rough night on Tuesday. He seems to be doing much better today. He is doing very well in school and is looking forward to finishing treatment in late January/early February. He has 3 treatments left. He started in early October 2010. Oral chemo every single day at home and countless treatments at the clinic throughout that time. He wants to have a HUGE party in February when he is done!
Kyle finished up baseball in the fall with Fall Stars. He had a good season and his team was successful. He is excited to get going with baseball camps over the winter. He still cannot play basketball in an organized league with low numbers (contact, germs...). He would love to!
September 10, 2013
Kyle is doing well and is actually enjoying being back in school. He had his monthly treatment yesterday at the clinic and everything went smoothly. He continues to take oral chemo every night as well and is looking forward to completing his treatment in February 2014. He wants to have a HUGE party when he is done with treatment.
He started up fall baseball this past weekend and had a nice line drive hit in his first at bat. He is excited to have two of his buddies in his 4th grade class (Adam and Luke) and likes his new teacher. Maddie just started 8th grade and is doing very well and Robert is entering his sophomore year at Westfield HS. Robert hopes to play basketball and baseball again this year at WHS.
We had a tough summer as one of our heroes Gavin Rupp passed away. Gavin has been a big part of Kyle's Kamp and we will continue to honor Gavin moving forward. Gavin was 13 years old and battled brain cancer for 2 1/2 years. He always had a smile on his face and never complained. Gavin was a true warrior and he will remain in our hearts forever!
July 7, 2013
Kyle is doing well. Maddie and Robert have been out of town this week with friends so it has been Kyle, Kieran and I. We have done a lot of fun things this week. Kyle played his first round of golf (and second) this week. He loved it (especially the golf cart). His hair is getting really long and curly. He seems torn as he likes it long but it is tough on hot days.
Kyle had a great baseball season as his Clemson Tigers (AA) team won the SYA LL championship. He also was fortunate enough to play 8-9 special all stars. That team also made it to the championship game but lost to in a hard fought game.
Kyle's numbers have been steady for the past couple of months. We are thankful for that. He cannot swim in public pools but enjoys swimming at Pots and Grannie Annie's house. Kyle's maintenance treatment will end in February of 2014.
May 20, 2013
Please say a prayer for Kyle today. He has a long day with a spinal tap and other chemo treatments that are a part of his maintenance protocol. He is a trooper as always!
Kyle and the family had an incredible day at Nationals Park yesterday with the Kyle's Kamp event. The rain held off even though there was essentially a lock that it was supposed to rain throughout the day. There was certainly someone watching out for us! I know my mother had something to do with it along with the man upstairs.
Robert wasn't that far away from hitting one out with a wood bat at Nats Park during the game! It was a very special day.
May 12, 2013
HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY TO KYLE!!!
Kyle had a good birthday today. His numbers have been low lately so he has been home from school since the middle of last week. We are hoping and praying that they come up soon so that he can stay healthy, get back to school and attend the Kyle's Kamp Nationals Park event on Sunday, May 19th. He had to miss last year because of a virus and low numbers.
Kyle received some Lego's, a water balloon launcher, a knee hockey set and a lacrosse stick (don't worry he isn't giving up baseball). He loved his birthday party yesterday. His activities were based around a sports tournament with a variety of sports games with some friends. His AA team in SYA LL is doing very well and Kyle has had a good year. He enjoys pitching and playing 1B.
March 17th, 2013
Kyle is doing well. His ANC numbers have been in the right range over the past 6 weeks so they have upped his dosages back up close to the 100% range for his age/weight. There are times when he is not feeling great or overly tired in the mornings when he goes into school late or misses school all together.
Kyle's next treatment is this Friday, March 22nd. This session takes about half the day. Kyle is incredibly strong on his treatment days and never complains about going. A part of that is a testament to Children's National and the wonderful staff at the clinic and the hospital. We are hoping that Kyle is doing well on April 6th (Casino Night) and May 19th (Nats Park Event) so that he can go to the two big events associated with the KK Tournament. He hopes to make an appearance at Casino Night. It was devastating last year when the morning of the Nats Park event he went in for a check-up and we found out that he had a virus and that his ANC was almost 0. After all of that planning, Kieran and Kyle were not able to join us for that amazing day at Nats Park! We hope and pray that he will be able to attend this year.
January 11, 2013
We received some good news last Friday that Kyle's numbers had come back up. We were able to re-start his oral chemo treatment at home daily and he has returned to school. He is also been able to play in his KK basketball league on Fridays as well.
They re-started his oral chemo medications at 50% to see how his body reacts before they will increase his dosage again.
December 28, 2012
Kyle is just finishing another appointment today. We have had a long 2 - 3 weeks. Kyle's ANC counts have been low and he has been relegated to the house for most of that time. He has been off of all of his oral chemo during that time. His numbers are still low today so we are getting more and more nervous. It is also tough on Kyle in that we have had to be very careful over this time. He gets bored at home and wants to go to school and play with friends.
We were planning on heading to Wintergreen this weekend as a family but we will have to cancel those plans. I feel bad for Robert and Maddie as well because everyone was looking forward to going down there.
Kyle has another check-up in 2 weeks so it will be a long waiting period at home knowing that he is still off of oral chemo with low counts.
We are still very blessed for everything that God has given us over the past year and hope that we can get Kyle totally healthy over the last 14 months of his maintenance treatment.
November 18, 2012
Kyle is doing well. We all are getting ready for Thanksgiving and have been listening to Christmas music non-stop since it started on Friday. I actually got a little bit of grief today because I decorated the house for Christmas. Yes it is a little bit early but I had some time today so I figured I would get it done.
As we approach Thanksgiving, I realize that we have so much to be thankful for. It starts with how well Kyle has done over the past two years. We still have a long way to go but we certainly thank God for everything he has provided us. He has given our entire family great strength during this period. We also recognize that mom is watching out over Kyle and the rest of us.
I am very thankful for all of the wonderful people who have stepped up in a big way to make a difference in children's lives who are dealing with cancer. There are hundreds of families who have become involved with the tournament and supported these young children and their families. With the assistance of all of these volunteers and participants we have gotten a step close to curing childhood cancer. Thank you!
November 9, 2012
Kyle's treatment went well last Friday. He did get his IGG numbers tested and they found that his numbers were low. Those numbers indicated his bodies ability to fight off infections or viruses. Kyle went in on Thursday to receive IVIG treatment to help with those numbers and that treatment went well also.
Kyle's hair is getting long and curly again. It is about time for another hair cut.
Everyone is already getting ready for Christmas at the Hahne household. Maddie already has her 4' Christmas tree up in her room and decorated. We even watched the Grinch movie tonight. Maddie watches that movie about 10x each Holiday season. Our entire family also has the Charlie Brown DVD Holiday collection. It starts with Halloween and then goes to the Thanksgiving DVD.
October 30
Kyle has been doing well. He has a little bit of a lingering cough but it hasn't seemed to bother him much. He has treatment this Friday and they will be checking his IGG levels to make sure that they are not low. He would receive IVIG treatment if his numbers are low. That will help his body fight off any viruses. Kyle's baseball season ended this past Saturday with the Cardinals. We really enjoyed this team and Kyle had a great season!
We started our own mini-basketball league for Kyle this winter. He cannot play in a regular basketball league because of the contact and all of the germs. We will play every Friday night at Cub Run with a small group of friends. I made some Under Armour reversible jerseys for them with Wahoos on one side and Hokies on the other. We can divide the players up each week with the jerseys. We will augment the rules to make sure that the play isn't too rough and we will make sure that players are healthy and that they wash their hands prior to the game. We will also clean the court prior to each game.
Monday, September 10
Kyle is doing well and very excited for school and the fall baseball season. He started 3rd grade last week at Cub Run ES.
He had to miss his first Friday due to scheduled treatment. It was the month where his treatment included a spinal tap at the Hospital. It was a very long day but he did very well.
We didn't plan on him playing in his first fall baseball game on Saturday but he wasn't going to be denied playing. His fall team is the Cardinals and he selected #7 after Matt Holiday. He doesn't like Albert Pujols anymore because he left the Cardinals. His favorite player is still Ryan Matheus of the Nationals. Ryan took him on a very special trip of the Nationals locker room back in August. He is a certainly a wonderful role model and a great guy!
Going back to school brings about some nervous times for Kieran and I due to the exposure of all of the germs at school. We hope that parents in both Kyle's class and Cub Run ES will keep their kids at home when they are ill. It still blows my mind that some parents choose the route of convenience vs. the health of their own child and others. This is especially important for those whose systems are immune compromised like Kyle.
We had a wonderful time in the OBX in late August. Kyle had a blast with all of his cousins from Kieran's side. We caught a lot of fish, played some putt-putt and rode a lot of waves. The kids created an aquarium built into the sand (hole) each day to house all of the fish we were catching off of the surf. I couldn't talk any of the kids into keeping the fish that were big enough to eat for dinner. They would keep them in their make shift aquarium and then release them back into the ocean.
The only curve-ball we experienced for the week was the mold we found in the vents of the original house we rented. It was a beautiful oceanfront house in Pine Island. It just wasn't kept as clean as it should have been and we had to move because of the mold exposure to Kyle and the rest of us. It took us a day to move houses but it was well worth it to move up to Corolla Light.
Kieran is teaching at Westfield HS this year and Robert is a freshman there. Robert wasn't too thrilled about this change but I think he is slowly getting used to it. Maddie started middle school at Stone and is doing well.
Wednesday, August 8
Sorry for the long delay in updates.
Kyle is doing well. His hair is coming back in slowly and we hope that it will be fully back before school starts.
Kyle has had a relaxing summer. We did get to go up to the Wintergreen house for a couple of days for one of Robert's baseball tournaments. He really enjoyed that since he hasn't been to Wintergreen since he was diagnosed.
Kyle had a special day last week. Robert, Kyle and I participated in a baseball camp on the Washington Nationals field with the Nationals coaching staff last Thursday. After the camp, Ryan Matheus (relief pitcher) invited Kyle back to the locker room to look around and meet Davey Johnson (Manager). Kyle took a couple of his buddies and they had an amazing experience.
We have enjoyed following the Nationals success this season. It makes it even more special with the Nationals participating in Kyle's tournament.
Kyle is very much looking forward to going to Pine Island, NC (OBX) on August 17th. We hope and pray that he will be feeling well and can make the trip. We will be going with Kieran's brother and sister's families. He is looking forward to putt-putt, fishing, beach time and more...
Kyle does have treatment this Friday so we say a prayer that everything goes well. He continues to do very well with his oral chemo that he takes at home daily.
Tuesday, June 12th
As you can imagine we have had a busy month.
Memorial Day weekend was a very long weekend. As we were preparing to haul everything to Nationals Park on Friday, May 24th we found out that Kyle had walking pneumonia and an ear infection. That was very scary and it was unfortunate because it meant that Kyle couldn't come out to his event that we had been planning for 8 months. The good news is that he has recovered from both.
He had to take closed to 2 weeks off of all oral chemo and med's so that his numbers could recover. He also stayed out of school.
He is back in school now but has had a couple of other slight issues. Nobody knows exactly why but all of his hair started to fall out again last week. It is a good thing that he is so laid back because he doesn't seem to care. He takes it all on stride. That includes when others make comments about it.
Over the weekend he developed a large mouth sore and it seemed to be fairly painful. He seems to be doing a little bit better now after a day or two of some Magic Mouthwash.
Kyle is very excited about playing in the AA Championship game on Saturday at 9 am at Cub Run Elementary. If anyone wants to come out and cheer him and his teamates on, I am sure he would love the support! It is like the World Series to him.
Tuesday, May 22nd
Kyle did well with treatment on Friday. He has had a bunch of bloody noses in the past few days but we hope that they have now subsided.
The whole family is looking forward to the tournament this weekend!
Thursday, May 17th
Kyle has treatment tomorrow (Friday). Please say a prayer for him for everything to go well.
He had a great game this evening with baseball. Baseball continues to be a wonderful outlet for Kyle.
Wednesday, May 9
Kyle woke up today with a stomach ache. He went back to sleep for a while and ended up feeling good enough for school at around 11 am. He is a trooper. A few times a month he wakes up either over-tired or with a stomach ache. It is due to the medications and treatments.
He is really enjoying baseball and is looking forward to the tournament over Memorial Day weekend. He has been playing in 2 - 3 games per week and loving every minute of it. He really enjoys pitching. AA is the first time that players get the opportunity to pitch.
School is going well. He has an orientation at another elementary school on Friday. We had a talk with him about that the other day. He will most likely stay at Cub Run because his friends are there and everyone does a good job of taking care of him. It is also right across the street from our house for days that he may not be feeling that well.
Friday, 4/27
Kyle had a rough day yesterday. I picked up him from school because he had vomitted at around 12 noon. He proceeded to get sick for the next 3 - 4 hours.
The good news is that he seems much better today. Kieran stayed home with him today. We are hoping that he is over it and can resume normal activities tomorrow. He really wants to play in his baseball game tomorrow morning.
Monday, 4/23
We had a great weekend.
We had over 250 people at the Kyle's Kamp Casino Night and raised upwards of $40,000.
Kyle had treatment on Friday and everything went well. He then proceeded to have a great baseball game on Saturday. He hit what I would call a AA Home Run. It was more like a double with a throwing error but it was a Home Run in Kyle's book and that is all that matters. Kyle also threw out a shutout inning on the mound with 2 K's. That was the first time he has ever pitched in a game.
We kept him from school today because there has been a couple of cases of Chicken Pox at his school recently. As I have stated in previous updates, we have become even more cautious about sending Kyle to school lately. This is due to all of the stories we have been hearing about parents sending their children to school sick. It is truly a shame that some parents think about themselves and what is most convenient for them rather than the well-being of their own child or other children.
Tuesday, 4/17
Kyle played his first baseball game on Saturday and had a blast! That is until I hit him twice while pitching to him. He was very tough. I obviously felt very bad about it.
He continues to do well in school and is excelling in all subjects. It is very nice to see that he actually enjoys school.
Robert, Kyle and I kept up our tradition of going to the Nationals Opening Day game. That obviously meant no school since they played at 1:05 pm but we make an exception for that day every year. We all had a great time and enjoyed the Nats big win. Kyle is really getting into watching baseball.
Kieran, Kyle and Maddie went to Target last night and Kyle got a Ninjago lego helicopter. He got home and proceeded to spend close to 2 full hours putting it together. He didn't leave the kitchen table until it was finished.
Monday, 3/19
Kyle continues to do well. He has been very active the past week or so since the weather has been so nice. It is tough for us to keep him down because all he wants to do is play basketball, baseball, soccer, football outside. We are obviously very pleased that he is so eager to play outside and be active.
He has had 3 practices for baseball with the Yellow Jackets so far and absolutely loves it. He can't wait for Opening Day on April 14th!
We have gone through some uncomfortable times in the past couple of weeks. We are getting updates on how parents continue to send their sick kids to school. You would NOT believe some of the stories we have heard. Kieran talked to all of the parents in Kyle's class at Back to School night but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference with many of the parents. Parents are sending their kids back to school the same day that they vomitted, had a fever or had diarrhea. This obviously affects more kids than just Kyle.
It is just really frustrating when parents take the convenient route and send their poor kids to school when they are sick. This is obviously very dangerous to kids like Kyle who have a comprimised immune system. We have had to keep Kyle home from school several days when he is feeling fine just to keep him away from the kids who are sick but still at school. I would hope that anyone who reads this would help spread the word about the importance of keeping your kids home when they are sick, washing hands and more...
It has put Kieran and I in a very uncomfortable position because what are we supposed to do? If we write a letter or call these specific parents (some of which we know) it looks like we only care about our son. We do have another letter going home with the kids in Kyle's class that Child Life at the Hospital put together for us. We hope that this will finally get some of these parents attention.
I cannot begin to tell you how thankful we are that Kyle has a teacher like Mrs. Scoville. She takes such great care of Kyle and all of her students. She also pushes them to work hard and inspires them to learn in very creative ways. Mrs. Scoville is truly Teacher of the Year in our book.
Sunday, 2/26
Kyle had treatment on Friday. He also had a numbers check. We did receive the good news that his liver function results had dropped lower. They are still somewhat elevated but trending in the right direction. His treatment went well and he came home feeling fine.
We selected his baseball team on Friday evening. Kyle was very excited to have a lot of his friends on his AA team (Adam, Luke, Blake, Jenna, Harrison, Lahe...). His team is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He is ready to get going with practices. He wanted GA Tech because UVA wasn't available.
Kyle is the only player who is league age 7 playing in AA (player pitch) so he is a little young. I wanted to keep him in Machine Pitch but he wanted to move up with his friends and be challenged by player pitch. He also wants to pitch which makes us a little bit nervous because we have to be careful about him getting hit with a ball.
Overall, he is doing great and always has a smile on his face.
Sunday, 2/12
Kyle is doing fairly well. He has been at school and is excited to get started with baseball this spring. He has tryouts in a little over a week.
His liver function tests have still been a little bit high but again that is not abnormal with all of the chemo treatment he has. He had a check-up on Friday. His ANC immunity numbers are a little low right now but that has been consistent. They are typically the lowest right in between his monthly heavy treatments. He still has oral chemo treatments daily at home.
We have been a little bit nervous about how his port area has looked over the past couple of days but we called in and sent in a picture and the Dr. wasn't concerned. Hopefully it was just because it was accessed on Friday at his check-up.
His energy and attitude continue to be really good. It is hard to believe with everything that he has gone through but he is hard to keep down with anything.
Sunday, 1/29
Kyle had a big day of treatment on Friday. Things went well. His liver function numbers were still a little bit high which concerns us but they aren't too high where he needs to stop treatment. The main reason for the high numbers is that the liver is working extra hard to take in all of the chemo and med's that are going in his system.
He did have to get IGG treatment again to help fight off viral illnesses. He has had somewhat of a persistant cough over the past few weeks. This treatment should help with that. It does take quite a while. We were at treatment for over 4 hours on Friday.
Kieran and I had been a little bit concerned about Kyle's cognitive development with all of the chemo and more importantly the cranial radition he went through last December. Both can have affects on cognitive development. Combine that with being out of school for almost all of last year and that is what brought about our concerns.
We did receive good news on that front on Saturday. We received Kyle's CoGAT test results from school and he did very well.
Friday, 1/27
Kyle has treatment this afternoon. Please say a prayer that everything goes well.
He has been doing well other than a little bit of a lasting cough. He is looking forward to baseball this spring. He hopes that he can get a bunch of his friends on his AA team.
He is also looking forward to the Memorial Day tournament.
Friday, 1/13
Kyle had a good week. He didn't feel well Monday morning and went into school late again but has felt well since. He has had a little bit of a dry cough this week.
He went home with Adam after school today and had a great time.
The winter is a fairly quiet time for him since there is no baseball or winter sports. He continues to do really well with his daily chemo pills. It does make it very easy on Kieran and I.
We are hoping to get up to Wintergreen for a night or two sometime this winter. Kyle has not been able to go up there since he was diagnosed. We tried to go over the Holiday break but Kyle had a big treatment day and the Doctor advised to have a quiet break at home.
Friday, 1/6
Kyle had a very busy day last Friday with treatment. It included a spinal tap. We ended up not going to Wintergreen and had a very quiet New Year's weekend which isn't all bad. The family time was great!
Kyle has had a good week. He had an upset stomach this morning so he was going to stay home from school. He ended up going back to bed but when he woke up he proclaimed "Dad, I want to go to school". I did end up taking him to school and he has felt fine since.
His curly hair is getting long so it is about time to get another hair cut. He hopes to do a baseball camp starting in February. He wanted to play basketball this winter but we couldn't let him because of the contact and all of the germs.
2011
Wednesday, 12/28
Kyle and our entire family had a wonderful Christmas! It was a little bit tough being our first Christmas without my Mom but we all banded together and had a nice holiday. We spent Christmas eve at Grandpa's house. We opened presents from Santa on Christmas morning at our house and then went over to Grannie Annie and Pots' house to open presents there with Kieran's family. Grannie Annie and Pots invited my side of the family over for Christmas dinner which was very nice. We had a great time!
Kyle's favorite gifts included:
- Nintendo 3DS
- Balloon animal kit
- Wii games
- Lego (Ninjago)
He said his favorite part of Christmas was spending time with his family! He seems to have it all straight because some of us forget about what Christmas is all about. We certainly appreciate that time more than ever.
Robert and Maddie were also very pleased with their Christmas gifts. Among other things, Maddie got her Uggs and Robert got all of his Nike block socks for b-ball. Robert was pretty easy to please this year.
Kyle has a big day of treatment on Friday that includes a spinal tap and more so please keep him in your prayers. He will be at the clinic most of the day as he does obviously get sedated for the spinal tap.
Friday, 12/16
We had a check-up today at the clinic with Kyle. It was basically a numbers check because both his ANC and his liver function numbers were up a little bit on 12/2. His numbers were actually a little bit low today so we will take it easy this weekend.
He is doing very well and enjoying school. He is obviously looking forward to Christmas.
We went to the Teardrops to Rainbows Christmas banquet on Wednesday and the entire family had a blast! The kids got to do a Build-A-Bear. They enjoyed the balloon animal artist the most. He was incredible and Kyle has now decided that he would like to become a balloon artist. In fact, he has now asked for a balloon animal kit so that he can learn.
Friday, 12/9
All of us Hahne's are still a little bit shocked and down at the news of Albert Pujols leaving for the Angels.
Kyle now says that the Angels are his favorite team. I am trying to talk him out of that and let him know that he can still like Albert Pujols but that the Cardinals and Nationals need to be our favorite teams.
We had a rough morning today. Kyle had an upset stomach and vomitted some as well. He did stay home from school and Pots saved the day and took great care of him. He seems to be doing much better as we are trying to get him to go to bed now but he is running and jumping around and playing with Robert.
We hope that it is not the flu or anything. Fortunately, he has not a fever at all. The next couple of months with cold and flu season are going to be tough. We are going to have to watch and make sure that none of our 3 kids are exposed to any illneses in other households. That usually means that nobody has been sick (cough, cold, vomit, flu, temp) in the past 72 hours or more.
We recognize that this will be even more difficult in school but we hope that parents won't send their children to school sick. We are fortunate to be at a great school at Cub Run and Kyle's teacher Mrs. Scoville is the best!
Maddie did a wonderful job in her choral performance at school this evening. She and I went out for Starbuck's afterwards to celebrate. Robert has a big day tomorrow with 2 basketball games.
Go Centreville HS Wildcats! They play for the state title tomorrow.
Sunday, 12/4
Kyle had a good weekend. He is excited about going to get a Christmas Tree today. Maddie is probably even more excited than he is. They both love Christmas time!
Friday, 12/2
Kyle has treatment today. He went to school until 12:30 pm and then went to the clinic for treatment. He doesn't like missing school. Treatment went well. His ANC numbers were actually a little bit high today at 2,400 when they were low at 650 just about 2 weeks ago.
They were going to up his med's a little bit to bring the ANC down a little bit because they like it between 750 - 1,500 during maintenance. They decided against it at this point because his liver function numbers were a little bit elevated so they want him to come back in 2 weeks and see where he is at that point.
He is doing well in school and Mrs. Scoville is taking very good care of him. He really enjoys it and is getting more excited about reading again after not reading quite as much since he was diagnosed.
We had a little bit of a scare of a couple of weeks ago. He had been limping ever since his last baseball game in early November so we were concerned. We took him into the clinic a couple of weeks ago but his numbers looked good and the x-ray of his leg looked okay as well. We were then referred to a sarcoma specialist which was a little nerve wracking but the Doctor wasn't concerned and actually found that Kyle's right leg is longer than his left. His limp is much better now. He will go back in about 3 months to do a full leg x-ray to see how the leg bone's compare at that point.
He really enjoyed playing baseball this fall and certainly feels a little bit more like a regular kid again. He did very well and didn't seem to lose much coordination or ability at all. He didn't quite have that normal Hahne speed ;) but that was probably due to the treatments and the leg issue. He wants to play AA in the spring.
We are very proud of Robert and Maddie as they have endured a long year as well. They are very good with Kyle for the most part and do well at tolerating Kyle when he starts something. They know they can't push, kick or punch him back.
We are really enjoying the Christmas music as we have it on 24/7. Maddie got her own Christmas tree in her room this year. She loves Christmas! We were able to get all of the decorations up early this year. Kyle keeps saying how Christmas is the best!
I will try to update the site at least once per week in the future.
Tuesday, 10/25
Kyle is getting ready for Halloween. He got to wear his red Ninja costume to Sean Keim's birthday party over the weekend. That was the first party that he has been to since September 2010. I was a little bit nervous with all of the other kids there but we certainly trusted the Keim's to take good care of him. He did great and had a blast!
Kyle is really enjoying baseball. He is doing very well and loves playing 1B and Pitcher. I am very surprised at how well he is doing with everything he has gone through over the past year.
We are rooting for the Cardinals in a big way! The losses over the past two nights were tough to handle but we are confident that the Cards can win the last two at home.
Kyle is doing very well in school and Mrs. Scoville is taking great care of him. I had lunch with him last Friday per his request. It was neat to see him back at school and interacting with his friends and classmates.
Friday 10/7
We just returned from Kyle's treatment. He had a very busy day that included a sedated spinal tap, Vincristine chemo, anti-biotics and a flu shot. His numbers looked very good and he did great! He got a McFlurry on the way home and declared that he is ready for a weekend full of baseball with Kyle's Kamp Columbus Day Tournament.
This is the first day that Kyle has missed school this year. He really wanted to go back to school for the last hour or so but I had to hold him back.
Tuesday, 10/4
We are preparing for the Kyle's Kamp Columbus Day Tournament. It starts up this Thursday and we are hoping to raise between $5,000 - $10,000 for Children's Hospital.
Kyle is doing well but has a big day of treatment coming up on Friday. We will be at the clinic most of the day as he has a spinal tap and other chemo treatments. Please say a prayer for Kyle.
Kyle is loving school and is doing very well in baseball as well. His immunity system is still somewhat compromised so we will continue to be careful with both school and baseball.
Kyle and I had a long conversation tonight before bed. It gave me a look into what Kyle thinks about at times with relation to his Leukemia. He asked "Dad, why can't Doctors just keep people from getting sick or hurt?". "Instead of fixing them, can't they just make it so we never get sick or hurt"? He certainly is getting back to more of a normal life but there is obviously still these type of thoughts in his head.
The tournament begins on the day that Kyle was diagnosed last year (10/6). We are so thankful that he is doing so well and we continue to pray that his long term treatment goes well.
Friday 9/23
Kyle is doing well. He has had a dry cough over the past few days so we are hoping that it clears up a little over the weekend. He is really enjoying school and was very excited to get Mrs. Scoville as his teacher. We are very thankful as well. Mrs. Scoville has gone out of her way to keep an eye out on Kyle. It certainly helps ease our concern over sending him to school. Kieran spoke to the parents in Kyle's class last evening at back to school night about Kyle and trying to keep kids home when they are sick since his immune system is still somewhat compromised.
Kyle has also started playing baseball again this fall and has had 3 games so far. His Machine Pitch team the Knights are doing very well. Kyle hasn't really shown any signs of coordination or strength issues which is somewhat expected with his treatments. He has gotten a lot slower but none of us Hahne's were ever really fast in the first place. It also makes me feel a little bit better because he has less chance of falling down or running into someone.
Kyle wears a heavily padded shirt under his jersey to protect his port and his stomach and chest area from getting hit by the balls. It is pretty bulky and probably inhibits him a little but it certainly gives us a little piece of mind. Even with all of this he still goes out and does very well both hitting and on defense. He likes 1B and Pitcher.
His next game is tomorrow at 1 pm at Cub Run ES. I will post his full schedule soon.
Sunday 9/4
Kyle is doing well. It has been a tough weekend with Grandma passing away late Thursday evening. I am not sure if Kyle totally understands but he did have a special bond with my mom. My mom came out and watched Kyle dozens of times over the past 10 months when he was home.
Kyle is eager to start school on Tuesday and even more eager to start playing baseball next weekend. I will update his schedule as soon as I have the updated version.
The schedule can also be found at www.syabaseball.org Go to schedules and look under Machine Pitch. We are team 3 (Knights).
Tuesday 8/17 8:30 pm
Kyle is doing well. His hair continues to grow back. He almost has a full head of hair at this point.
He had treatment this past Friday and did well. His heavy treatments at the clinic are now once per month. He still does have oral chemo every day at home and has oral steroids 5 days per month. The Maintenance Phase lasts a total of 2 1/2 years.
He has been cleared to play baseball this fall. I will be his coach for the Machine Pitch Knights in SYA. We hope that some of you can come out and watch some of his games this fall. He starts his games up in September.
We also plan on him going back to school. He will have to take days off when his numbers are down or when he receives treatment. We hope and pray that parents keep their kids home from school if they are ill. We all know that can be tough but it really hits home when you recognize that passing flu or virus germs when there is a child who is immune compromised can be very serious.
It also makes you realize the importance of washing hands well and frequently. I have probably washed my hands more in the past 10 months than I have the other 40+ years of my life ;).
I will be updating a number of pictures from the summer soon!
Sunday 11:30 am
Kyle is doing very well. We were actually able to go to Bethany Beach for 6 days. He had a blast!
More info coming...
Thursday 9 am
Kyle is doing well. He started his Maintenance Phase on Friday, July 15th. This phase lasts for 3 years adn includes oral chemo every night and steroids 5 days a month.
He also has IV or IT treatment once a month and check-ups every 2 weeks for the first several months.
His hair is growing back slowly and will need a haircut soon. He continues to be active and hopes to play baseball this fall.
Friday 8:30 am
Kyle did not make counts on Wednesday so he didn't start the Maintenance Phase yet. He goes back on Wednesday. His numbers were on the rise so we are hoping that he will be okay by next Wednesday.
He is still playing a lot of wiffle ball and is still very active. His hair is growing back slowly.
Tuesday 9 am
Kyle had a good weekend. We laid pretty low for most of fthe weekend. We did make it out to the Nelson's and Murray's annual July 3rd party. Kyle loved the fireworks and enjoyed playing with his friends.
We did miss the Render's on July 4th. They are at the beach. We normally go into Vienna for their celebration on the 4th. We did have a great time lighting off fireworks with the Winesett's last night.
I took Kyle fishing 3x over the weekend. He had been wanting to go for a while. He caught a total of 17 bass. One of them was almost 4 pounds and he caught at least 3 others that were over 2 pounds. He casts on his own and gets the fish to the shore all on his own.
Kyle is scheduled to start maintenance tomorrow. It all depends if his ANC is back up to 750. He has a busy day scheduled that includes a spinal tap and other procedures.
Friday 9 am
Kyle's Hg and Platelet numbers were good on Wednesday and he did not need a transfusion. His ANC was still verylow but it looked like that it may be on the rise.
Kyle played wiffle ball with the entire 12u SYA West all star team after their game last night and really enjoyed it.
Kyle is scheduled to start his 3 year Maintenance phase of treatment on Wednesday. His ANC would have to be 750 to start. It was only 110 on Wednesday.
Tuesday 9 pm
Kyle is doing okay. He has been a little lethargic lately as his numbers are still down. He goes for a numbers check and a prevention shottomorrow.
We hope that his numbers are on the way back up. We expect that he may need a blood transfusion tomorrow.
Robert, Maddie and I were at a Baseball Tournament in Delaware for Robert's team all weekend so Kyle and Kieran got a lot of quality time together. We were gone from Wednesday - Sunday so we all really missed Kyle andmom.
Kyle will start hisMaintenance Phase in a week if his numbers have recovered. Maintenance lasts for 3 years.
