2020 Little Warrior: Kaleb Klimek
“In January 2020, Kaleb was diagnosed with AML Leukemia (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia). This is a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. It was found relatively early and was still showing up only in his bone marrow and not in his blood stream yet. This type of cancer is fairly rare, but even more so in someone of his age.
This all started when back in May of 2019, when Kaleb got a bloody nose that would not quit. We took him to the local ER in Alexandra, MN and at that time were told of his low platelet counts. (At that time they were around 80,000) A normal platelet count range is from 150,000 to 450,000. They were unable to stop the bleeding there and he was transferred to the St. Cloud hospital. His bleeding stopped on the way there. While in St. Cloud, we met with a doctor at the ENT clinic. It was decided that the following day Kaleb would have cauterization surgery on both of his nostrils to prevent the bloody noses. The surgery went well and a week later we noticed more bruising on Kaleb and at that point we followed up with his primary doctor in Alexandria. Kaleb’s doctor referred us to the hematologist at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.
At the beginning of June we met with the specialist at the Cancer and Blood Disorders Clinic at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital. Initially, they thought Kaleb had ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic) because his symptoms matched that. This occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body platelets. The cause is not officially determined, but in children it can follow a viral infection. At this time Kaleb’s platelets dropped down to 35,000. It was decided to just monitor the situation. The majority of kids will come out of this on their own. However, over the course of the summer, his platelets continued to drop down.
In August and September, they seemed to hover right around 25,000 back and forth. We were hopeful that this would be the start of his immune system resetting itself. However, his numbers continued to drop. We met with the hematologist and they explained that this could turn into a chronic condition. It was fast approaching the six month mark now.
On October 30, 2019, Kaleb went to his preschool like normal and came home and enjoyed his favorite birthday foods. He went into his bedroom and was playing, a short time later, he came out with a nose bleed. This was the first one since May before the cauterizing surgery. We called down to the Blood Disorder Clinic and were advised to bring Kaleb down. Because it would not stop on his own, we had to bring him to our local ER and he was transported down by ambulance. Kaleb was admitted to Children’s and his platelet count was at 9,000. His platelets dropped down to 5,000. He was given two rounds of IVIG treatments, which didn’t seem to do anything. This was followed by a round of steroids which only raised his platelets few thousand to just over 10,000. (Keep in mind the normal range is 150k-450k).
After a week in the hospital we were sent home. We continued to check platelets week and his counts hovered right around the 10,000 mark. They decided to put him on a medication called Promacta which was going to be a more long term solution for his situation. However, when that medication only raise his platelet count a small amount something didn’t seem right. After five different rounds of treatment we were just spinning wheels. The specialist team called on December 16, 2019 and told us that Kaleb needed to have a bone marrow biopsy. On the 19th of December we received a phone call that Kaleb’s bone marrow was being set to Chicago further testing. The reason being, is there was a few indictors of leukemia present in his cells. They scheduled us to come on January 2, 2020 at the Oncology and Blood Disorder clinic. At this appointment our worst fears were confirmed that Kaleb indeed have leukemia.
On, January 8th he was admitted to Children’s Hospital and began his 7 month treatment. The first few rounds were brutal but thankfully Kaleb was in remission after his first round. However, he still needed to complete 5 more rounds (6 total). It was a long road but we managed to get through it. Kaleb’s strength, determination and resiliency amazed us every single day. He is the strongest person we know.
Kaleb finished his treatments the middle of July. The beginning of August, Kaleb’s Hickman was removed use all of his numbers were in the normal range. Kaleb will continue to be seen monthly by his team for now.
Kaleb is amazing kid and we thank god every day for him.
-Cassandra Klimek, Kaleb’s Mother
During the month of September a portion of the proceeds from shopping INDY Gear and Apparel will go directly to Kaleb and his family. Shop now and be sure to mention his name in the comments section at checkout.