At times Newburgh, the urban center of
Warrick County's rapidly growing Ohio Township, feels like the
biggest small town in Southern Indiana.
Not to Robin and Sheridan Wheeler and their family. The
dozens of people who have reached out to help them fund their
9-year-old daughter Mallory's battle with acute lymphocytic
leukemia might as well live across the street. Complete
strangers have reached out like the oldest of friends.
In fact, Robin
Wheeler said, Newburgh's response has been more than
neighborly.
"It has been extremely phenomenal. You just can't say thank
you enough. They are just good people," she said.
Community organizations, individuals and family have jumped
in with both feet to help the Wheelers organize fundraisers to
help pay for Mallory's prescriptions and bills. Neighbors
organized a massive yard sale. The women of St. John Catholic
Church brought food. The American Legion has had not one, but
two, poker runs for the family. Cards and letters have poured
in.
While Sheridan continues to work at Brake Supply in
Evansville, Robin had to quit her job to focus on caring for
Mallory, leaving the family with just one income. Although the
Wheelers have health insurance through Sheridan's job, the
cost of treating childhood leukemia is phenomenal, with
treatments alone lasting more than two years and costing an
average of $1 million. That does not include the costs of
hospital stays, transportation and medicine.
"Unfortunately, her prescriptions cost a lot and because we
go to Louisville (Kosair Children's Hospital), some of her
expenses are considered 'out of network' and cost more," Robin
Wheeler said.
On the weekend after Thanksgiving last year, when most
people were enjoying leftover turkey and time with their
families, the Wheelers were also gathered together - in an
Evansville hospital where Mallory had been admitted with a
high fever. She had been battling bouts of fever and stomach
pain since August, along with misdiagnosed illnesses and
frequent hospital visits.
Mallory's grandparents, Jeff and Dean Wilson were there
that day when the results of a bone marrow test came back.
"They knew immediately. They had trouble extracting the
marrow. It was so thick. It was so full of cancer," Dean
Wilson said.
She remembers clearly when Robin, her daughter, came back
into the waiting room after speaking with the doctor. "I have
never seen so much pain in her face before," she said.
The Wilsons have chipped in too, raising money by selling
note cards and prints featuring Dean's original watercolor
work. A family friend put together and maintains a Web page at
www.support mallory.com that is loaded with information not
only about Mallory's situation but also about childhood
cancers.
"How does a grandparent not do that? That diagnosis defined
our lives from here on out," Dean Wilson said. "You want as a
grandparent so badly to help in some way. You want to take it
away from your daughter, you want to take it away from your
granddaughter, to take that pain away."
Acute lymphocytic leukemia is the most common type of
leukemia in people under the age of 19. Children are most
likely to develop the disease but it can occur at any age.
Mallory has responded well to her weekly chemotherapy
treatments, said her mother. Her condition is now considered
to be in "maintenance." This means that the remaining two
years of her chemotherapy treatments will now be monthly, with
bone marrow aspirations and spinal taps every three months.
However, the cancer could return and her blood count is not
yet stable enough for her to return to class at Sharon
Elementary School.
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