Support Aubrey in her fight for life by attending benefit

Join the people of Winfield at a Nov. 6 benefit for young Aubrey Rae Deno, diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in August, just one month after her first birthday.

Aubrey's benefit will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 6 at Buddy and Pal's, 10685 Randolph St. in Winfield. There will be a silent auction and raffles, and all proceeds will be donated to The Aubrey Deno Medical Fund, c/o Community State Bank, Brook, IN. 47922.

To view updates on her health, visit Aubrey's caringbridge website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/aubreydeno.

A family friend shared Aubrey's story:

Aubrey Rae Deno was born July 20, 2009 to Dustin and Lacey (Beever) Deno and has a 3-year-old sister, Jillian. One month after Aubrey's first birthday, she hit her chin while playing and a huge hematoma formed. 

Having noticed Aubrey had been bruising easily and frequently for a week, her mother took her to the doctor, who called a few hours after drawing blood to say Aubrey's white blood cell count (WBC) was 287,000 and she needed to come to Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis immediately. The next day, Aubrey had a bone marrow biopsy, spinal tap, and began chemotherapy after being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).

A beautiful, energetic baby, Aubrey did wonderfully with the first round of chemotherapy. The regimen is usually successful with 95 percent of all cases. Unfortunately, after a month, the family learned  Aubrey's cancer did not respond to the initial treatment. Her pediatric oncologists consulted with  St. Jude Children's Hospital and developed an aggressive treatment plan.

Since Sept. 3, Aubrey and her parents have been living at Riley Children's Hospital, where she received the more aggressive chemotherapy treatment.

During this month-long treatment, the active 1-year-old couldn't even stand up, play, or barely stay awake for more than an hour.

Her parents have been taking turns staying with her every night while the other stays in a nearby hotel. Aubrey's sister has been staying with family members - except for some special nights when she gets to stay with her little sister.

On Oct. 4, Aubrey had another bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap and was starting to play and eat again on her own.

Results showed, however, that Aubrey was not in remission. Her leukemia cells were still at 18 percent (the goal is <5 percent). So, another aggressive round of chemotherapy was started. The chemo is very hard on Aubrey's small organs and she spent a few nights in the ICU for breathing difficulties.

The hospital sent her bone marrow for a second opinion at John Hopkins University and the results were a true miracle - they found  the leukemia cells are finally in remission.

Riley Children's Hospital is now searching for a bone marrow transplant match, and Aubrey was able to go home last week to recover.

This week, she had another bone marrow aspiration which showed that she remains in remission. The next step is a bone marrow transplant the week before Thanksgiving. Aubrey will then have to stay at Riley for two months and receive aggressive chemotherapy while in strict isolation so her body will accept the new, cancer-free bone marrow.

Do you have any news/events to share about Winfield? Call Kim at (219) 988-5133 or e-mail kimstar@comcast.net. Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.