Good News From The O’Neills

To the Editor:

Reilly is cancer free, now 12 months out of his last treatment at Yale!

Even though the O’Neills have moved out of town, we felt the need to share our continued love and admiration to all the people who supported our family during Reilly’s cancer treatment in January 2005. Reilly, our now 7-year-old son, had been diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma. The shocking diagnosis went from constipation at the general pediatric appointments, to multiple large tumors at the Bridgeport CAT scan machine, in the course of a week. Having been chasing odd symptoms, and Mom trusting her instincts, thank God Reilly was scanned when he was. This particular tumor is the fastest growing cancer, doubling in size every day. It is rare, appearing in the US population about 250 times a year.

For Reilly, he benefited from the work of researchers who had only released the official protocol on treatments for this disease in 2003. Prior to that date, trials had been conducted from 1999 to 2003, and regional best practices for the decades before. In fact, Reilly would have had very little chance of a successful treatment if he had been born in his parent’s generation, a thought that still hollows me today.

We participated in Newtown’s Relay For Life, an American Cancer Society fundraiser in 2005, and have had several friends run marathons and raise money for research through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Please think of the priceless gift that our family has been given, through the donated funds for research that so many of you have given. Think of us the next time your asked to give.

 Thank you for the support.

The O’Neills

Diana, Kevin, Reilly, and Daniel

Saint Petersburg, Florida            April 24, 2006