Cancer strikes family twice

A Williams Lake family is re-living the horrors of cancer after their six-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, 10 years after their six-year-old son was diagnosed with the same disease.

In December, Summer Singleton began experiencing achey bone pain. Summer's mother Jenn was immediately concerned, because she had seen this happen before.

“All the doctors told me it never happens, where two kids in the same family are diagnosed with the same cancer,” Jenn said.

Despite doctors' reassurances, the family took Summer to BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver for tests.

Jenn's worst fears were confirmed – Summer was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the same disease her brother faced 10 years ago.

“Since then, it's just been crazy, being back here again,” Jenn said.

Now 16, Summer's brother Braidon has made a full recovery, although he still gets annual check-ups at Children's Hospital to ensure it's gone.

Summer is now in Vancouver, between Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House, for the foreseeable future.

She must undergo intensive chemotherapy for the next three years, with short breaks to allow her body to rest.

The frequency and length of these breaks depends on how her body reacts to the treatment.

Jenn says Braidon responded well to the three years of treatment, but Summer's road has been a little rockier so far.

“I was thinking or hoping that it would be as smooth for Summer as it was for Braidon, but already she's had two blood transfusions and now this blood clot, and she only started the chemo Jan. 29,” Jenn said.

To combat blood clotting in Summer's brain, Jenn must inject Summer with a blood thinner every 12 hours for the next three months.

Jenn and her husband Gary's oldest child, 18-year-old Tyson, created a GoFundMe page for his parents to help with family bills while they get through this devastating time.

“When we went through this with Braidon, Gary wasn't able to be down (in Vancouver) with me and him that much, because it was so expensive,” Jenn said.

Gary works at the Gibraltar Mine, north of Williams Lake, and Jenn says they have been “amazing” and “supportive” by covering his shifts since the diagnosis.

While she's been caught up with getting Summer her needed treatment, Jenn wonders what could have led to two of her children getting the same disease at the same age, while her oldest, who grew up in Langley, has, “knock on wood, always been fully healthy.”

“(Braidon and Summer) both turned six up in the Cariboo region, so you start thinking, what is it?”

She says Braidon had a genetic test done when he was diagnosed, and he was not predisposed to leukemia.

“That just really makes you wonder,” she said.

For children under 14 years old, 32 per cent of cancer diagnoses are leukemia, making it the most prevalent type of cancer for that age group.

Despite the diagnosis dragging the family back to a place they never wanted to revisit, Jenn says Summer's a tough kid and she's been able to keep her spirits up.

“She's got spunk.”