Five-year-old Gaige Willems was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia just before Christmas in 2007 and has been undergoing treatment in St. Louis Children's Hospital ever since. He faces at least seven more months of treatment. [Click to enlarge]

This year has not been an easy one for five-year-old Gaige Willems. As readers will recall, Gaige is the Dexter child who was diagnosed with leukemia just before Christmas last year. Nearly seven months later, Gaige is the portrait of a child who has been very ill. There are the tell-tale circles under his eyes and the slick little head, the result of months of chemotherapy, that he likes to cover with his Spiderman ball cap. The sweetness of spirit is still evident, though, and there is hope in the hearts of the Willems family and promise in the physician's prognosis.

Gaige's story began when his mother noticed early last December that he seemed to be bruising easily, especially on his legs. It seemed at the time that he could barely brush against a piece of furniture and he would bruise. A typical five-year-old plays hard and within a few days, Misty Willems could see that something was just not right.

Gaige was taken to his Poplar Bluff physician who ordered a blood work-up and at the moment those tests came in, life changed forever for Gerald and Misty Willems and their family.

Gaige has acute lymphoblastic leukemia; a cancer of the white blood cells. It is most common in childhood and young adults and its highest rate of incidence is in children between four and five years old. Little Gaige Willems fit the bill.

The cure rate for lymphoblastic leukemia is said to be at about 85 percent, but the road to getting there is a long and trying one, full of pitfalls and setbacks that in Gaige's case have acted to delay his treatment schedule on more than one occasion. Following his initial 28-day stay at Children's Hospital in St. Louis, where physicians confirmed the diagnosis in December, a treatment schedule was established that has since involved weekly trips to the St. Louis facility.

"We've been taking Gaige to Children's weekly and sometimes three and even four times a week, depending upon how he tolerates the treatments and the scheduling," explains Gaige's father.

"Usually, treatments are scheduled for once every week, but over the winter months, there were several times when we got him home and he would start to run a high fever and we'd have to take him back up to Children's."

At least three of those instances resulted in three to four-day hospital stays until doctors felt Gaige was stable enough to travel back home to Dexter to rest up and prepare for his next treatment.

Gaige's treatments consist of a mix of chemotherapy drugs, some of which are administered through a Portacath that was inserted in his upper chest when he was first diagnosed, and others that are given through injections.

"There is also a liquid form of medication that we can give him at home," says his mother, Misty.

Sometimes the drugs make Gaige nauseous, his parents explain.

"He's usually pretty good for about three of four days and then he begins to feel the effects of the treatments," Gerald says. "About the time he begins to feel better, it's time to pack him up for another trip to St. Louis."

There are horrors that come with a diagnosis like Gaige's; the high fevers in the night and the nausea that follows some treatment.

"The worst part," says his father, "is when we have to hold him down at the hospital for the nurses to give him shots in hig legs. That's the most painful part for Gaige."

As difficult as that experience is, though, the broken down immune system that leaves Gaige susceptible to infection, seems to be the most devastating aspect of the treatment.

"Other than the hospital visits and trips to Poplar Bluff for bloodwork," says Misty, "we've probably had Gaige out of the house just for outings about five times since Christmas. And during those times, we've had him wear the mask to protect him from contracting any infections."

Even with that kind of caution, Gaige still caught infections through the winter months that necessitated the hospital stays.

Plans are for Gaige to complete four phases of treatment and then to repeat two of those phases.

This isn't the norm, Gerald explains, but because of the severity and type of the leukemia, that is the prescribed treatment.

The first stage, called "Induction," was completed during Gaige's initial hospital stay. He then went into a phase titled, "Consolidation." Next came "Interim Maintenance," which he recently completed and he began last week in the "Delayed Intensification" phase of his treatment. Once it is completed in two months, plans call for a repeat of the Interim Maintenance portion of the treatment program and then a repeat of the Delayed Intensification. Each treatment consists of a different mix of chemo medications for a two-month period.

"We're a couple of months behind schedule," explains his father, "because of the setbacks in the winter. When he had to be hospitalized and his white blood cell counts were so low, his treatments had to be placed on hold until he could tolerate them once again."

The current phase of Gaige's treatment, his father says, is the roughest.

It's a difficult life for a child soon to turn six. There is no outdoor playing in the dirt or learning to ride a two-wheel bike, going to see a movie in the theater and stopping at Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however. If Gaige can remain on schedule, he will have about seven more months of treatment. He will then go on a maintenance schedule that will involve some medications at home, but visits to the St. Louis doctors only every few months.

"When that time comes," the couple agrees, "we're going to spoil Gaige as much as we possibly can!"

"If he wants to go to Branson, we'll find a way to get him there," Gerald attests. "Whatever he wants to do, we're just going to do it!"

Gaige is not a complainer, his parents say. He plays quietly at home a lot. His two-year-old brother, Jaden, joins in, since he is also restricted for the most part in his outings, because what germs Jaden might contract could be transferred to his brother. School for Gaige has been put on hold for now. There is too much risk of infection from outside sources, and so the family is discussing home schooling options with the local school district.

Gerald and Misty Willems watch Gaige closely for any sign of temperature elevation, carefully administer some of the medications at home and shield him from the outside world that could threaten his treatment schedule once again, as best they can.

So, how does a young family with two young children manage to stay afloat while dealing with a diagnosis that demands weekly trips, at least, to St. Louis and restricts one parent from working outside the home?

"At first, it was costing us over $80 in gas every time we drove my truck to St. Louis," Gerald says. "Eventually we bought a compact car that uses about half the fuel, but of course now we have a car payment that we didn't have before."

"If it weren't for my employer, Ron Weathers, I don't know how we'd do it," Gerald says.

The Willems are a close couple, soft-spoken, knowledgeable, concerned of course, and cautious, but full of hope and just looking toward the day when Gaige can run out the front door and catch a bus to school, with no protective mask and a full head of blonde hair under that Spiderman cap.

When the family first faced Gaige's diagnosis last December, a fund was set up to help defray the cost of travel and expenses that come with a diagnosis like his. That fund has been fairly depleted over the past seven months, but is still in force at First National Bank in Dexter, where contributions may be made in person or by calling 573-624-8383.

For the first time, the Willems family plans to attend Stoddard County Relay for Life on August 1 at West City Park. Through funds established at Relay events, research has resulted in the availability of medications like the ones that eventually cure little Gaige Willems.