Red Deer grandparents Larry and Lorraine Pasemko are reaching out for help for their 17-month-old granddaughter, Alice, who has a rare and aggressive form of leukemia.
Their son Jeff Wolter, who lived in Red Deer until 2012, and his wife, Korinna, are at the Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver with Alice and their three-year-old son, Anthony, while Alice is treated at B.C. Children’s Hospital.
The grandmother said Alice was airlifted from a hospital in Salmon Arm, B.C., to the children’s hospital Sept. 6 after she was taken to the emergency room because of a worsening fever and other symptoms.
She was soon diagnosed with one of the cancers known as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) that is not normally seen in children.
“It’s such a rare, aggressive cancer that nobody knows a whole lot about it. We need all the prayers and hope we can get,” Lorraine said.
She said Alice’s doctor is reaching out to experts around the world.
Alice needs a bone marrow transplant. Her brother, mother and father are being tested. If they aren’t a match the search will be expanded, but an almost perfect match is needed so her brother is her best chance, she said.
“They were told bone marrow is a one time shot because of her age and because MDS being so rare.”
Pasemko, a retired educational assistant with Eastview Middle School, and her husband, retired from Ineos Canada at Joffre, just returned from Vancouver because Pasemko caught a cold and couldn’t risk getting Alice sick.
“Right now (Alice) is stable and feeling okay. She goes multiple times a week for blood and platelet transfusions. Every time she gets a transfusion she feels a bit better.”
It’s really important for people to think about becoming a bone marrow and blood donor, Pasemko said.
She said once a donor is found she will have to receive chemotherapy for a month prior to the transplant. Then she will need to stay in isolation for at least 94 days.
“She will be in Vancouver until next March or April they figure, at the earliest.”
The family can only stay at Ronald McDonald House for a month and renting an apartment near the hospital will be expensive, Pasemko said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up — Help fight for baby Alice — to help with housing, travel and Alice’s medical expenses.
Donations can also be Interac e-transferred to Lorraine and Larry Pasemko at pasemko.l@telus.net.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter