Winnie Hicks
On October 21St Winnie’s dad Mike, took her to the Urgent Care at Salem Hospital. Winnie had been fighting what her pediatricians and parents thought was a sinus infection and over the weekend she started having trouble breathing. Once seen at urgent care Winnie was immediately moved to the ER. There a blood test revealed that her white blood count was 100x normal for a 7 year old girl. Winnie was sedated and placed on a ventilator and moved via ambulance to the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Once in the PICU Winnie was diagnosed with TCell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (TCell ALL) an aggressive form of leukemia. Because of her high white blood cell count a large mass of cells had formed on her chest and was constricting her breathing, she also had many lesions on her brain that were causing swelling. Winnie was started on chemo right away. After seven days she was able to be taken off the ventilator. She was then moved to the Hem/Oc ward at Doernbecher. She was there for ten days and was then discharged for out patient care.
After the first round of chemo a bone marrow biopsy found that Winnie still had a 30% TCell load, this was very high, as most children are around .05% after the first round. Winnie’s case was classified as high risk and it was recommended that she have a bone marrow transplant. Winnie’s 9yo brother Mark was not a match, but a match was found via the bone marrow registry. After two more rounds of chemo Winnie’s cell load was low enough for her to be admitted for her transplant. She was admitted to Doernbecher on March 6, 2019 to start the process and received a transplant on March 16. It was predicted that Winnie spend around 6 weeks hospitalized and then 100 days of follow-up care where she would have to live at the Ronald McDonald house in Portland as her house is too far away from the hospital. She will also have years of follow-up appointments and scans to track how her body is reacting to her new bone marrow and the long term effects of the chemo and radiation on her body.
Winnie, her parents Leslie and Mike, and her brother Mark are all members of CrossFit Kiowa in Independence, OR. Winnie has participated in the CrossFit Kids classes since she was 5yo. Winnie loves CrossFit, especially her coaches Trish Palm and Shane Rider. When Winnie was admitted to the PICU her diagnosis was grim, her white blood count was the highest of any child that had ever been admitted there.
Doctors and nurses there where amazed at how strong and fit she was for a girl her age, especially considering how sick she was at the time. Once she was removed from the ventilator her doctors told us that one of the biggest reason she survived was because of how fit she was. During treatment Winnie has continually amazed the doctors. She has recovered much quicker than most children with her diagnosis and has dealt with the chemo and radiation side effects much better than most children.
After being discharged and cleared by her doctors Winnie has continued with her CF Kids Classes during her chemo and radiation treatments. This has helped her regain her strength and work on her balance which has been effected by her brain lesions. Going into the transplant her team of doctors said she is one of the strongest kids that they have ever seen. Her coaches and family truly believe that CrossFit and Winnie’s natural stubbornness saved her life.
Leslie Howerton; “I have always been so grateful for the health and community that I and my family have found through CrossFit and this experience has reaffirmed how special the community is.”
