Remission A Special Gift For Family 7-Year-Old Gets To Visit Grandma’S House After Two Years Of Leukemia Treatment

For the past two years, Christmastime for 7-year-old Abbey Silveria has included words that no child wants to find in a stocking: leukemia, chemotherapy and pulmonary embolism.

But this Christmas she has some new words: grandparents, swimming and, most important, remission.

On Tuesday morning, Abbey, her four siblings and her parents hurriedly packed their bags at the Ronald McDonald House in Spokane for a trip they haven’t been able to make in two years.

They’re going to grandma’s house.

The Silverias have lived on and off at the Ronald McDonald House since October 1998. The house on Fifth Avenue near Deaconess Medical Center provides out-of-town families with a low-cost place to stay - $12 per night - while their children receive medical treatment. The Silverias live in Grangeville, Idaho, 175 miles away.

“It’s been a great place, a good place to relax when you’re under a lot of stress,” said Haley Silveria, one of Abbey’s older sisters.

The trip to California is possible thanks to Abbey’s aunt, Darcy Pollard, whose church - the Evangelical Free Church in Walnut Creek, Calif. - raised half the money for the family to fly south.

But mainly, the trip is possible because Abbey recently got some good news - the leukemia she’s been battling since she was 5 appears to be in remission.

Doctors removed Abbey’s “mainline” Monday during a four-hour surgery. A mainline is a small tube inserted through a vein in the neck and running into the heart. It is used to deliver drugs.

Abbey had a mainline for two years.

Now that it’s gone, Abbey will be able to swim something she’s dearly missed for the first time since she’s been sick. An uncle in California is a scuba diver and has an indoor pool she can use.

And while swimming isn’t exactly a traditional Christmas pastime, the Silveria family has some untraditional Christmas icons.

Its favorite Christmas animal isn’t a red-nosed reindeer named Rudolph; it’s a stethoscope-wearing “racehorse” named Dr. Frank Reynolds, a pediatric oncologist at Deaconess Medical Center.

Six weeks into Abbey’s treatment, her mainline was being flushed clean. During the routine procedure, she stopped breathing.

“Dr. Reynolds was right there with me in the clinic,” said Abbey’s mom, Gayle Silveria. “He just happened to be walking down the hall and had come in to chat.”

Gayle Silveria put her child in Dr. Reynolds’ arms. He ran. He ran from the clinic to the eighth floor of Deaconess - the children’s intensive care unit.

Several blood clots had blocked an artery to Abbey’s heart. Doctors saved her, but she spent 10 days in an intensive care unit. Dr. Wes Allen, a pediatric cardiologist, told Abbey’s parents he had never seen a child live through such a thing, said John Silveria, Abbey’s dad.

Allen died last May in a boating accident.

“I told Dr. Reynolds, `You are my racehorse, that’s your official name now,”’ Gayle Silveria said.

“I told Dr. Reynolds that it didn’t have anything to do with luck,” she added. “God orchestrated to have everyone in their place at that time. As you look back, you could see how God put everyone in their places.”

A few months after Abbey’s pulmonary embolism, she asked her parents about the event.

“What was the bright light I saw in the room?” she asked.

“It must have been the Lord or an angel because there were no bright lights in that room,” John Silveria told his daughter.

The family’s faith has carried them this far. They hope it carries them a little further.

“They figure if she can stay in remission for five years, she’ll have a fairly normal life,” said John Silveria, adding that his daughter will need checkups every month for the next several years. “We’re just praying it doesn’t come back.”