Call for platelet donations!!!

One of the procedures which helps Nate's body recover from chemotherapy is receiving blood platelets. Because platelets only have a shelf life of five days (they must be used within 5 days of donation), hospitals sometimes run short, especially around the holidays.

Nate (and other people in his situation) needs your platelet donations. To donate platelets, please contact the blood donor center at your nearest Kaiser Permanente. Though it is possible to donate through the Red Cross, it takes longer to reach specific patients (i.e. Nate) than donating directly to Kaiser.

Thank you for your love and support.

(An earlier version of this blog post directed you to the Red Cross for platelet donations--sorry for the confusion.)

Christmas and back into ICU

Christmas morning was a little different this year, but still good. Dad spent the night Christmas Eve with Nate and Christmas morning, Mom, Shaughan, Michael and Benjamin came down to the hospital to open gifts. Eva couldn't come as she had been sick and couldn't get close to Nate. Although Nate was really fatigued, he enjoyed opening his presents and seeing Meghan and Zane Patterson Christmas afternoon.

Unfortunately, Christmas Eve Nate started getting sick. He was up almost all night with severe body pain, high temperatures and vomiting. He slept a lot on Christmas Day, and on Friday the 26th his temperature went up to 105 degrees and stayed there. He also tested positive for a bacterial blood infection. On Friday night, they moved him to ICU and downgraded his condition to serious. But Nate continued to go downhill. He became tachycardiac, had irregular heart beats and was dehydrated. They were able to bring his temperature down, but by Sunday, they had to place a urinary catheter and put him on oxygen.

On Sunday evening, the doctor determined his kidneys were failing and dialysis would be necessary. His dialysis regimen is difficult, lasting 4 to 6 hours each day. They thought the dialysis would also help his heart symptoms, but are concerned that the chemotherapy could have caused some heart damage. We pray that isn't the case. Nate is on permanent oxygen now and is heavily sedated, so he is not always aware of his surroundings.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. We all appreciate them so much.

How to Join the National Bone Marrow Registry

For months now, dear friends and family all over the world have been asking how to have their bone marrow tested to see if they are a match for Nate. The generosity you have shown has been humbling to say the least. Because of the interest expressed, we thought it would be useful to post how to join the National Bone Marrow Registry. The good news is that not only Nate but thousands in his situation could benefit from your generosity should you choose to join the registry. More good news is that testing only requires 4 swabs of your mouth. The less-than-good news is that is costs $52 a person to obtain the kit to be tested. If you are still interested, please register and buy the kit from the National Marrow Donor Program which can be found online here: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/Join_Now/join_now.html. If you have additional questions, please post them in the comments section and we will try to answer them to the best of our ability. Thank you for your kind words, your prayers, and your willingness to help!

3rd Round of Chemo Update

Nate and his friend Justin Wilson

Tomorrow is Nate's last day of his third round of chemo, and it couldn't come too soon. This round of chemo is eight times stronger than any of his previous rounds and has been really hard on Nate. For the last few days his temperature has been around 106 degrees, but thankfully dropped to 102 today. Even though this round is intense, Nate is determined to get out of the hospital within 40 days. Please remember him in your prayers so that he can reach his goal.

As noted in the last post, last Saturday Nate's good friend Justin Wilson organized a bone marrow drive on Nate's behalf. Our local paper, The Signal, ran the following outstanding story written by a Canyon High School junior named Megan Scherich. It is so good, we thought we would post it in its entirety

Bone-marrow Drive for Local Scout

What would you do if you were an Eagle Scout?

Not only do they learn to tie complex knots and start fires without matches, but they also fight to save lives.

Justin Wilson, a local Boy Scout, chose to fight for Nate Sparks.

Wilson organized the "Nate Sparks Bone Marrow Drive" at Canyon High School on Saturday to help his longtime friend find a match and aid him in his battle with leukemia.

Wilson chose the bone- marrow drive as his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project to show people "how simple it is to get screened and save lives."

"It doesn't take much," said Ben Hopkins, a Boy Scouts leader.

Although membership in the National Bone Marrow Registry is a long-term commitment, it is an easy way to help those in need of a match, like local cancer victims such as Sparks and Bob Corrales as well as diagnosed Americans nationwide.

Many of those who attended the Sparks screening wanted to give their support any way possible.

"The Eagle Scouts showed us how easy it is to get screened: four swabs you swirl in your mouth," volunteer Clarence Scherich said. "If that's all it takes to help somebody, it's certainly a sacrifice any of us can make."

Stacey Ranhofer, who has no connection to Sparks, heard about the drive and decided to participate.

"It touched me," Ranhofer said. "God bless them. I hope they find a cure."

The drive drew a great number of supporters, and Vivian Abernathy of City of Hope proclaimed it to be an "amazing turnout."

In only the first hour, more than 100 donors took four generous swabs of saliva each.

"Santa Clarita comes out stronger [for bone-marrow drives] than any other community I have seen," Abernathy said.

Such benevolent support from the Santa Clarita Valley is a great inspiration and hope for Sparks and his family. "I think they will find a match, I really do," said Nate's father, Jerry Sparks.

During the screening, Sparks visited with family, friends and participants, laughing and joking as usual. Throughout Sparks' treatment, despite the difficult journey, he has maintained an optimistic attitude and is living as normal a life as possible.

"What amazes me is that Nate is still doing his schoolwork," said Lisa Hillquist, a family friend.

Nate looked pointedly at his mom and said, "Wonder why?"

Marilyn Sparks, Nate's mother, shared her favorite "treatment story" about Nate.

While delirious he talked "about driving down Sand Canyon in a red convertible with his dog, Buddy, whose head was sticking out the window."

Through difficult times, the Sparks family preserves its lifestyle, filled will optimism, love and laughter.
"Nate has inspired me with his positive attitude, even throughout painful treatments," Jerry Sparks said.

Nate's outlook on life and his situation has inspired his family, Justin Wilson, the Eagle Scouts and the Santa Clarita community.

"I thank everybody for everything they have done," Marilyn Sparks said. "But most of all, thank you to everybody for your faith and prayers."

"Words cannot express our gratitude," Jerry Sparks said.

Megan Scherich is a Canyon High School junior.

Generous volunteers swabbing their mouths so that their bone marrow can be tested to see if they are a match for Nate

Bone Marrow Drive Last Weekend: Thank you Justin!

There was a Bone Marrow Drive last weekend at Canyon High in support of Nate. It was organized by Nate's friend Justin Wilson for his Eagle Scout project. The day of the drive this article was published in the Signal newspaper.

http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/6661/

A few days latter a follow up article was published that spoke to the turnout of the drive and the link is here.

http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/6785/

Attached are some photos of the day. We would like to thank Justin and the Wilson family for their efforts. The level of support for Nate has been overwhelming and we appreciate it. We would also like to thank all of those that were tested as this could help not only Nate but all of those fighting this disease.

Nate was re-admitted to the hospital to start his third round of chemo this Monday. It is a much more intensive round than he has previously received. We will keep you posted on as to his status.

Nate & Justin

Nate's sister Shaughanie making a poster

Donors signing up to help

Donors swabbing their mouths

Thanksgiving

Nate had a great Thanksgiving with his Mom, Dad, Shaughanie, Michael, Eva, Benji, and Jocelyn and Zack who came from DC to celebrate. Nate ate lots of delicious food, hung out with his friends, played Guitar Hero, watched movies, showed everyone his favorite youtube videos and played UNO. Actually, while playing Uno, sweet Nate didn't want to give any of his Draw Four cards to his sister Jocelyn. He kept them as long as he could and usually got stuck with them in the end. Lest you think that his kindness hurt him, please know that Nate won the game. Moral of the story--being nice to your sister pays off. More than anything, Nate is just trying to be a normal teenager when not in the hospital. Right now he's just trying to put on weight and get stronger before his next round of chemo which will start next week and will be 8Xs stronger than previous rounds. Please keep him in your prayers. This Thanksgiving Nate is grateful for life, and his family is grateful for Nate in their lives.

Playing UNO with Zack

Nate showing Eva how to rock Guitar Hero

Second round of chemo complete!!!

Nate was released yesterday so he will be out of the hospital through the Thanksgiving holiday. We are excited to see him home and have the second round of chemo come to a successful conclusion. There is a meeting with the transplant team on Friday the 21st and we will have more information after that as to whether he will have a bone marrow transplant or a stem cell. There are more questions than answers right now on the transplant but as we receive more information I will keep you updated.

The Signal which is the local newspaper in Santa Clarita called us up a few days ago asking for more information on Nate and published this article today. The link is below. We appreciate all of the support and love that we have received as a family. Initiatives such as the tennis tournament have turned this challenge into an opportunity for our family, friends and community to learn and be a a part of something bigger than ourselves. We thank you and love you all for your prayers, love and efforts.

http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/6121/

Here is a photo from Sr night where he was honored by teamates and busted out of the hospial for a few hours.

Nate update

Nate went back in for his second round of chemo therapy on Oct 20th. The normal course consists of 10 days of chemo, 10 days of down time where the chemo takes effect and attacks his white blood cells and 10 days to recover and then go home. Nate looked strong after the chemo and it took a bit longer than usual for the chemo to really hit. He currently is starting to recover from the therapy. He has been nutropenic for the last 10 days which means that his white blood cell count is so low that his immune response is compromised and he cannot fight infections.
Last week on November 7th he was released for a few hours to go the is football game where it was the last home game, the senior players were honored and it was homecoming. He was excited to go and get out and see his friends. It was great to see him post he anaphylactic reaction that he had to the platelets a few days prior. Nate was honored by his teammates with a football signed by the team. It was a good night for him but tiring and he ended up sleeping most of the rest of the weekend.
Currently he is sleeping a lot (similar to how any teen would and then some) and is hoping to be released in the next 10 days. My parents will be meeting with physicians this coming week to discuss a bone marrow transplant and we will keep you posted on that possibility.
Nate appreciates the visits, prayers and well whishes so please keep hem up.
If I receive photos from Sr. night I will make sure to post them.

Nate reentered the hospital on Monday, October 20th for his second round of chemo. He finished the 10 days of chemo on Thursday, October 30th. He has been reacting to this round of chemo shockingly well. There has been little nausea and his temperature has been pretty normal. Nate didn't need any blood transfusions until Halloween and has been getting platelets or blood daily since then. Nate has been feeling well until yesterday when he had an allergic reaction to his platelets transfusion and went into anaphalatic shock. Thanks to quick-acting nurses he was given steroids, benedryl, and oxygen which saved his life. He still has hives over 80% of his body but he is doing better and starting to improve.
If you are B positive or O blood type, it would be great if you could donate platelets in Nate's name as supplies are dwindling. Thanks for all your support and prayers. We'll post again soon.

A great weekend and back to the hospital

This last weekend was great for Nate. He had been out of the hospital for over 3 weeks and had been getting his energy levels up. On Friday he went to his sister Jocelyn's wedding rehearsal dinner and jetted out a few minutes early to go to his football game. He dressed for the game for the first time this season to the surprise of his teammates. He was a made a captain for the game and all of his family was their to see him walk on the onto the field. To see how far he had come in the previous weeks to get to this point was amazing. When in the hospital his goal was to make it back onto the field for his Sr year for at least one game. He first warmed up with the team and helped the special teams unit warm up. He walked out as a captain and was introduced last by the announcer and the whole stadium went wild which gave his family both tears and chills. He did not make it in to play but we were happy to see him dressed and walking. Below are some pictures of this moment. The last photo is of Nate with his nephews Ethan and Kaden. A few great things about his team are that the teammates all wear #15 decals on their helmets, they all close all team meetings with a team cheer of SPARKS and in all the years that we have been going to Canyon games we have never seen the name stitched on a uniform. The support has been humbling and appreciated.

On Saturday Nate went to Jocelyn's wedding which was beautiful. Here are some photos of the day. It was special that the whole family could be together. Nate hung tough the whole day but I think his nephews and niece wore him out by the end of the evening.

Nate entered back into the hospital to start his second round of chemo this last Monday. It was a great weekend. He is expected to be in for 10days of chemo and then 3 more weeks to recover from this round. Nothing is specific in terms of time but we hope he will be home for Thanksgiving and that this round is much easier than the first round. Nate is stronger this time around as he was much sicker when he went in the first time. Our prayers are that his body will take this round chemo well and continue to fight. He also knows more of what to expect and is managing everything better. Please continue to keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Coming back in the hospital has not been the easiest as he was just starting to enjoy his time out of the hospital. He still loves visitors and hearing from friends. Below are a few photos of him a few days ago of him with Kaden and Ethan before they head back to Texas. Last night was a fun night for his as his friends spent the night in the hospital with him and he is trying to keep moving and stay as active as possible to keep his strength up.

Progressing

I just thought I would give you a quick update on Nate. He has been out of the hospital now for 3-4 weeks and attended school for the first time the other day. Although tired it was good to see familar faces and feel like a normal teenager. He still has lukemia but his doctors gave him additional time out to rehab as my sister Jocelyn is getting married on Saturday. Nate has been out on the football field giving pointers to the other kickers and trying to regain strength. His progress has been great considering that 6-7 weeks ago his prognosis was grim. He will be dressing on Friday night for his football game and his goal is to get in for one play to say that he played his Sr season. He is doubtful to kick but he may hold for one of the kicks. This is most likely his only chance to play this year as he starts his second round of chemo on Monday. We are proud of his progress and just the fact that he will dress is amazing and we are all excited to be in the stands to watch him dress. This last week has been great for him to be able to feel like a regular teenager for a a few days and continue to gain strength before he starts up his second round.

Positive News

Nate has the bone marrow aspiration on Thursday and we just got word that the first round of treatment went well and there is a large reduction of cancer cells. It was also determined that he could continue to rehab at home for the next two weeks. What this means is that he will be home for Jocelyn's wedding on the 18th which is great news.
Nate will be re-admitted for his second round of chemo on the 20th and we pray for continued response to the therapy.
Nate is progressing well and enjoying a full appetite. He is working to get his stamina up and it has steadily improved since he arrived home 10 days ago. So far this is the best news that we have received since he was first diagnosed. We know that there are many trials to come but for now we are enjoying the first of many victories in this fight.

Nate was well enough to attend his first football game this last week and attached are some photos of him at the game.

Nate is home!

Nate was able to come home last night after 61 days in the hospital. Next Monday, September 29 he will check back into the hospital as an outpatient where he will be sedated and have a bone marrow aspiration done. We will get the results either the following Wednesday or Thursday and it will tell us how well the first round of chemotherapy worked. He will then be scheduled to be readmitted to the hospital for the second round of chemotherapy. The time frame on this will depend on his overall health. His liver is still inflamed and he needs to put on more weight and generally be more healthy before chemotherapy. His hope is that he will be able to be out of the hospital for his sister Jocelyn's wedding on the 18th. The photo below is of Nate and Jocelyn at one of Nate's games last year.

We know Nate is here with us today because of everyone's faith and prayers. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

September 18th

Nate's health continues to improve. His kidneys are functioning again, so he no longer needs dialysis. Nate is sitting up more and starting to walk again. He can receive visitors and loves when his friends stop by. Thank you to all who have tried to help Nate eat more, he is starting to gain weight because of your efforts and we are so grateful for your generosity. The doctor is hoping to get Nate well enough to go home for a week or two before starting his second round of chemo, which both he and his family are really excited about.

Good News & A Call for Food :)

Good News #1: Nate is out of the ICU and back in PEDS! The medical staff is happy to see Nate, and Nate is happy to see them.
Good News #2: Nate is playing video games again! This is good for both morale and finger mobility. Please feel free to stop by and challenge Nate to some Tony Hawk.
Good News #3: Nate hasn't had to have dialysis for a few days! This is great because it means that his kidneys are functioning better.
Good News #4: Nate is eating again! His current favorites are Trader Joe's black licorice, peanut M&Ms, Twix, homemade white bread and candy Runts. The doctors really want him to consume a lot of protein and N8 ate almost 4 oz. of beef yesterday. He is back to drinking milk. Also he's allowed to have fresh fruits and veggies now, so Nate is downing as many strawberries as he can get.
Here comes the call for food: It is important to the doctors to get Nate walking and packing on weight before his next round of chemo. So if there is anything you can think of to bring or send to encourage Nate to eat, please do so. We're looking for some culinary/dietary inspiration.
Thank you for your faith, love and prayers. Our family is so grateful for the way our friends have sustained us and we know that Nate's improvement has been a group effort.

Update from Jocelyn: September 10

I got to go home to CA last weekend to visit Nate and it was so good to see that he's doing better everyday. I was with him when they took his breathing tube off because he was doing so well on his own. He hasn't moved back up to peds yet because it has been full, but we're hoping that something opens up today. The staff in peds was fantastic to work with and they love Nate so that's where he'd like to be. Right now Nate is working with physical and occupational therapists to stretch and strengthen his muscles and is doing a great job. Another piece of good news is that Nate's appetite is coming back, carbs seem to be his favorite in the form of spaghetti and white bread. We'll post another update soon. Thanks for everything!

Another step in the right direction

Just a quick update but Nate is set to move out of the ICU today and back upstairs to the pediatric floor. His need for oxygen has ceased and his kidney function is coming back so he doesn't need as much dialysis as before. He should be able to start having visitors soon, we'll let you know when. Lastly, we are awaiting the results on his white blood cell count to ascertain how the first round of chemo went. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, please keep them coming.

Quick Update

Nate is doing better each day. 3 weeks ago it seemed like for every piece of good news there was 4 pieces of bad news to go along with it. Now it is the opposite. He is making progress and we hope that he will be getting out of the ICU in the coming week and back up on the pediatric floor where he can start having visitors as that is always a help in raising his spirits. Last night was Nate's football teams first game I know that he wishes he was out there with his teammates of Canyon High. Speaking of Canyon, there was a blood drive in his name last week and there were over 500 individuals that donated blood with more turned away due to capacity. We appreciate the love and help. Nate has needed a lot of blood these last few weeks and your help is appreciated. I will post and let people know when Nate is able to receive visitors.

Nate's Senior Photos: Thank You O'Conner Photography!

A special thank you to Mike O'Conner, Dan Hamrick, Linda Johnson and all the staff at O'Conner Photography for coming to the hospital to take Nate's senior pictures. Most of all thank you for your generosity, love and concern.

Good article by the Signal on Nate

http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/3694/

I thought you would all like to read this link which is an article by local paper the Signal.

Thank You Cowboys!!!

Thank you Canyon Cowboys for coming to the hospital to donate blood on Nate's behalf! You are fantastic teammates and friends.

The Latest (Updated by Jeremiah)

The last two weeks have been rough on Nate. I arrived back in CA on the 10th of Aug and he was finishing up his last few days of chemo. We were prepared for him to get sick which he did but he just kept getting sicker. On Monday he was fairly mobile but by Tuesday we were lucky to get him out of bed and across the room. Tuesday was particularly rough as it was the day of football pictures with the team and he had hoped that to attend. His doctors although reticent were ready to let him go to the team photos but the 30 minutes prior he started having poor blood pressure then would become tachycardic (heart beats too fast).

• Wed he became immobile and his low grade fever began to spike.
• Thursday he had an echocardiogram on his heart and developed diminished cardiac function. The physicians were trying to figure out if the issues were caused by pericarditis which is an infection of the sac around the heart or sepsis which is an infection in the blood.
  
• Friday the fever persisted, fluid on his lungs was discovered and his kidneys started to not function well to the point that he was moved to the ICU for better monitoring
  
• The ICU was busy and crazy. Nate seemed to stabilize but his kidneys got a bit worse and on Saturday his legs started to swell and moving at all became difficult.
  
• Sunday it was more of the same and the concern was that he was averaging less than 200 calories a day, the fever continued and ranged between 101 and 105.
  I left on Sunday and I was scared as each day seemed to have more and more bad news. He was fairly stable and did not seem to truly belong in the ICU. Nate began to realize that he needed to fight the disease instead of just enduring it and getting back to his life. The week physically was difficult and draining as his white blood cell count was bottoming out due to the chemo and all of the fore mentioned issues. Emotionally it was difficult as he missed the team photos and school started that Thursday.
  
• Monday Aug 17- Nate was moved to Telemetry (a step up from ICU) but not back the pediatric floor that was much friendlier. It was decided that his issues were being caused by sepsis and he was receiving many drugs to treat this but the fever persisted and the kidneys got worse and the cardiac function was increasingly becoming alarming.
  
• Tuesday 18th- Telemetry was the pits! Again more of the same without much good news. Again decreased kidney function and cardiac function. The swelling got worse and started to move to his abdomen.
  
• Wed Nate was moved back to the ICU and things did not look good and all of the fore mentioned issues persisted as well as his liver started to fail and swell.
  
• Thursday was the low of all lows. I received a call as did all of the family that Nate was going into surgery around 3 and they were not sure if he would make it. We were all asked to come home. It was a stressful flight. Nate’s kidneys were failing and dialysis was needed but he had liquid around his heart that needed to be drained and all of his organs were swollen and his body had no clotting factors to stop any bleeding. He did make it through but when I got in on Thursday night it was rough to see him on the ventilator, tied down, on dialysis (where the clean his blood for him)
  
• Friday he got off the ventilator and some swelling went down. The fluid around his heart did not refill and this was the first day where there was more good news than bad. In fact his white blood count started to come up which means that his immune system can start fighting his infections.

I write this now on Tuesday the 27th and progress is coming. Nate is still in the ICU and continues dialysis and we are hopeful that we will be released up the pediatric floor this weekend and deemed stable. 2 weeks from now we would like to see him released to go home for a week prior to coming back for another round of chemo.

We would like to thank all his friends who have come by and would ask that you wait to see him until he is out of ICU but he is buoyed by your thoughts, prayers and visits. Thank you to all that have and are donating blood and platelets in his name as he has needed almost 2 pints of blood a day and platelets on a regular basis. This is currently the best way to help. 40 football teammates came down via bus yesterday to donate blood and I understand that over 400 students and staff at Canyon are donating blood on Thursday in Nate’s name.

We thank you and we will keep you updated. We would like to especially thank Meghan and Cathy Patterson and the whole Patterson clan for their assistance. Thank you to all others that have assisted our family in this trying time!

Photos and stuff

This is some stuff and pictures from the first few days after he was diagnosed with AML and early in his treatment. Sorry, we have not been the most dilligent in updating the blog. Here is another photo of Nate post the hair cut with his mohawk/mullet.

3 days after he was diagnosed with cancer and 2 days after he had surguery for his central line for his medications Nate had some Sr. photos in the hospital room next door. Obviously these were prior to the mohawk and mullet. We'd like to thank O'Conner Photography for coming out to the hospital to photograph Nate.

Leave it to Nate to look GQ, during clothing changes in the hospital.

2 hours after his Senior photos were taken, Nate started chemo.

A few days into chemo we brought Nate's dog in for a quick visit. You can see from the glasses photo that Nate is a joker. The favorite has been the fake fart machine but the fake puke was a good one to get nurses and visitors.

Nate has had many friends and visitors which always cheers him up. We're so thankful for all the love and support that has been expressed by friends and family all over the world. Both Nate and our whole family have been strengthened.

Here are some great photos from his last football game his Jr year with his two nephews Ethan and Kaden. Ethan was the one who picked out the fake puke for his cool uncle in the hospital. Nate isn't just his favorite uncle, so much as Ethan's favorite person on the planet. Kaden is on the same Nate-adoration bandwagon.

We'll give you a status update on Nate shortly.

The Diagnosis

Nate was diagnosed with leukemia on Thursday, July 24th, and AML specifically on Friday, July 25th. He started chemo on Monday, July 28th and thus is on the road to recovery. Here is a photo of Nate after his Hickman catheter was inserted for his chemo. Classic Nate.
Nate has, unsurprisingly, proved very popular since he was admitted to the hospital. We'd like to thank everyone who has visited, called, prayed, and fasted for Nate over the last week. Nate, and his family truly appreciate your kindness. Here is a photo of Nate with his friends Mack and Robert watching a movie.


Nate's brother Jeremiah gave Nate a pretty sweet fauxhawk on Tuesday and has some great photos of it. Until he has time to upload those, here is a photo of Nate headed out on his first walk outside the hospital with his brother Jeremiah and his sister Jocelyn.