Two-time cancer survivor, 3 years old

PRESCOTT — Angie Jenkins described her family as “brand new.”

Angie, 24, and her husband Trent, 23, have three young children, Trenidy, Dawson and Kaylee. But within two years this “brand new” family aged a lifetime when their 2-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer.

In 2010, Dawson caught a cold and his lymph nodes began to swell. After a visit to Dr. Daniel Walker in Creston, he was prescribed antibiotics to fight the infection. However, the medicine was not reducing the inflamed lymph nodes, which started to grow to a size that was constricting Dawson’s airway.

A blood test was conducted and the results were shocking. Angie said the normal count for white blood cells ranges from 20,000 - 30,000, but Dawson’s cells were at 119,000. Dr. Walker urged the family to admit Dawson to a hospital in Des Moines, and within an hour his white blood cells had more than doubled with a count of 280,000.

“It was heart-wrenching and scary,” Angie said. “Our first and only son was going to be taken away from us.”

On May 4, 2010, Dawson was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia. This cancer produces infected white blood cells that reproduce rapidly and cause the blood to clot. His blood cells were 97 percent cancer, so Dawson was immediately put under a medically induced coma for a week, during which time he received chemotherapy to prepare him for a blood transfusion. After a week, Dawson was cancer free and underwent the procedure at the age of 2.

Round two

Despite the success of the surgery, Dawson’s days in the hospital were far from over. He was a weekly resident at the hospital for numerous infections and continued cancer-prevention treatments. Family members and friends could not visit if ill, and all visitors had to where a mask just to see Dawson. But by November 2010, things were looking positive.

“We had just been telling people that we had got the news that he was almost ready to just be doing medicine by mouth at home, and we were all excited that he wasn’t going to have to stay at the hospital and do chemo,” Trent said. “It looked like the end of the road was in sight.”

On Dawson’s birthday, Nov. 12, he was given an undesired present.

The Jenkins received a phone call informing them the cancer had returned. Dawson would have to endure a bone marrow transplant in Minnesota. He underwent more chemotherapy and his first round of radiation in preparation for the surgery on March 20.

Trent and Angie’s youngest daughter, Kaylee, acted as the bone marrow donor for her brother.

“She was a perfect match, a 10 out of 10,” said Trent . “Which almost never happens.”

“He has been in the hospital more than he has ever been at home,” Angie said.

According to Trent, without the Ronald McDonald Houses in Des Moines and Minnesota the journey could not have been possible. The facilities provided activities for the family including bingo, a playground, toys and a bouncy house.

“They were our second home,” Angie said. “Not only just for the house itself, but the other families you met and hearing their stories.”

However, Dawson’s journey was a story that was heard across the state. John McLaughlin, KCCI chief meteorologist, heard Dawson’s story and decided to lift his spirits, literally. McLaughlin flew Dawson around Des Moines in a helicopter that he piloted after the cancer had relapsed. He was featured on KCCI’s newscast Feb. 15.

Recovery

Dawson has been out of the hospital for two months, a record, and is cancer free. The Jenkins are currently working on spending time together as a family. The two-year ordeal has lost them a lot of time, and they are currently catching up.

Looking back at their family’s journey, Angie feels she is now stronger and more tolerant. But one memory seems to shine above the rest for Dawson’s mother.

“We were laying in his hospital bed and Dawson put a big old smile on his face and said, ‘Daddy, I’m a strong boy.’ I’ll never forget it.”