Sleeper fights cancer, friends rally for benefit

The Port Arthur News

April 25, 2008 12:37 am

— By Amy Moore
The News staff writer
The birth of a bouncing baby boy was a short lived celebration for the Sleeper family.
Just days after baby Brady arrived in the world, his 5-year-old sister, Brooke, was diagnosed with cancer.
“It came about because she kept complaining that her legs were hurting,” the young girl’s mother, Kim, said. “I thought it was just growing pains but by the time her brother was born, she was limping and crying.”
When it came time to discharge the new baby from the hospital, he had lost too much weight and was scheduled to see a doctor. Kim thought this was a good time to have her daughter’s legs checked out, too.
“They checked her out and there was one tender spot that every time he touched it, she cried,” Kim said. “They did a blood test and found blasts in her blood. By the time they called to tell us, they had already called Texas Children’s (Hospital).”
Brooke, a kindergartner at Hillcrest Elementary in Nederland, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on March 13.
“That was the first time I’ve seen my husband cry since we’ve been married,” Kim said of her husband, Kevin. “It was all overwhelming because we got the news and I had just had a baby five days before. It’s kind of like a dream — a nightmare — and I keep wondering when I’m going to wake up. Never in a million years would I have though this was going to happen to my child.”
Family and friends have bonded in support of the Sleepers and are hosting a Mud Bug Benefit in their honor from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at the Rockin’ A Cafe, 3520 W. Cardinal Drive, Beaumont.
“There’s been an ungodly amount of family and friends support,” Kim, who is on maternity leave from her job as a diagnostician at Hillcrest, said. “People are with us at all times and that’s what’s gotten me through this.”
Kim said there are good and bad days for Brooke, who had to quit dancing at Dawn Fitzgeralds for treatment. Only recently did she begin to throw up from the chemo therapy.
“She’s always been very healthy and active. Then all of a sudden this happens. I don’t think she understands the seriousness of it, but she’s handling it very well. She rarely complains,” her mother said.
Brooke has also had to stop attending classes at school and is now homebound. Her teacher, Erica Mendoza, teaches during the day at the school and then twice a week goes to Brooke’s home to teach her one-on-one.
“Most home school teachers are retired teachers but Erica was very upset (when she heard about Brooke’s diagnosis). She went to see Brooke when she was in Houston for treatment,” Karen Sue Noble, Hillcrest Elementary principal said.
Now Brooke receives most of her treatment at home with a chemo therapy pill. She also has to go to Houston every week.
“It gets expensive driving every week and eating out when we go,” Kim said. “But the people at Texas Children’s are awesome. They are the most wonderful people and I can’t say enough about them. Her nurse practitioner is a God sent. They don’t care if I call ten times a day with questions. I wouldn’t want her anywhere else.”
Today Brooke is in remission. Considered standard risk rate, Brooke will continue to receive treatments for at least the next two and a half years to make sure she stays cancer free.
“She was what they called a rapid early responder,” Kim said. “She responded really well. She has lost quite a bit of hair but she’s fine with it. She doesn’t even ask to wear a hat when we go out.”
Kim said she and Brooke will shop for wigs in Houston after her next treatment. The little girl is looking for something maybe like Hannah Montana’s long locks.
“She wants to keep her brown hair, though,” Kim joked.
Considering how bad the situation could be, Kim said she feels blessed.
“There are so many people praying and I thoroughly believe that’s what cured her and put her in remission. That’s why everything worked out. It’s God’s why of making things happen. If Brady hadn’t lost weight after he was born, we never would’ve thought to bring Brooke to the doctor. So if we have to get this horrible news, at least we’re getting the best news.”

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