Hello! Thank you for visiting Gavin's website. Gavin was born a normal healthy baby boy on April 7, 2001. We did not know anything was wrong with him until he was 6 months old. He caught a virus, but his condition (Cardiomypathy) could have been caused by a virus or he could have been born with it, and it just took 6 months to show up. I took him to the Pediatrician three weeks in a row, and they kept saying nothing was wrong. 2nd week, they said he had a virus, nothing to do but give him Tylenol, one week and a whole bottle of Tylenol later, we were back at the Doctors, this time they did an X-ray and sent us to Vanderbilt. We were told that night, that he had Dilated Cardiomyopathy (which means enlarged heart)and that his heart was the size of a 17 year old males! We were also told he could need a heart transplant. They said they would give him drugs to hopefully shrink his heart. Eleven days later he was put on the heart transplant list. The medicines made him feel better, and his heart had not got any bigger, but had not gotten any smaller either. Nine days later he got a heart! Ten days later we were sent home, the day before Thanksgiving. He has done well after his transplant, only hospitalized twice for flu (just to make sure there was no rejection) and for routine tests, biopsies etc... He was doing fine until May 2004.He had been complaining of his belly hurting for a while, but it was never enough for him to want to take anything for it, or to lay down. We took him to the Doctor,first time they could not find anything wrong, second time, he was pale and dehydrated, so they sent us to Vanderbilt Children's hospital. After Catscans, and ultrasounds and a lapropscopic (sp?) surgery and a myriad of tests he was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma. It is caused by the drugs he was taking to keep his body from rejecting the heart. We were here for 20 days, started chemo, had two rounds of it, and then sent us home.So basically we will be back and forth to the hospital for fevers,infections and chemo.Until we hear that the chemo has worked, we are told it could be a 6 month to a year process.UPDATE AS OF SEPT 17TH:
*****Gavin was supposed to have one more round of chemo but because the last round (his 4th) gave him three infections, they decided he would not need any more chemo, it was just too hard on his body. The first catscan after round one, showed cancer only under a microscope and after the 3rd round they could not see any cancer at all, even under the microscope. So the next rounds were just preventative. But since he has had great catscans, they are confident that he does not need any more rounds of chemo! YAAAAAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! He just got his Broviak out yesterday! (His semi-permanent IV line in his chest) They put a regular IV line in his arm, and they will take it out by either sunday or monday. We are thrilled that he has fought this cancer and done so well. Hopefully our lives can go back to a somewhat normal pace. As normal as possible. He still has to take the medicine every day for the rest of his life, he could possibly get cancer again or other problems like with his kidneys etc... We are praying that the Lord will keep his body cancer free and keep him healthy so he can lead a normal life! He will always get sick easier than the rest of us, so we just have to wash hands like crazy and stay away from large crowds and sick people.
AS OF NOVEMBER 2005
Gavin was just diagnosed with another form of Lymphoma, a large b-cell diffuse lymphoma. It was behind his nose, and he had surgery Oct 2005 to remove it. But because they cannot say they got 100% of it, he has had to have maintenence chemo, from October 2005 to Feb 06. But it was all outpatient, and that makes a huge difference. Being a single mom, it definetly makes a difference on my finances when we won't have to keep checking into the hospital. I could still work, and for the most part if Gavin's counts were up he could go to school. The oncologist said that he needed 18 weeks of intense therapy (every 3 weeks) and then every 6 weeks.

UPDATE: As of June 2006 Gavin is cancer free! :-) He is finished with his outpatient chemo and is taking different forms of medicines now, ones that actually help prevent cancer, but are not as good of immunosuppressive drugs. So because of this he still has to have blood drawn every two weeks, so they decided to keep his port in (his "tubies") so he doesnt have to be stuck with needles. Gavin has just finished Pre-K and will be starting Kindergarden in the fall at Liberty Elementary with his brother Jonah who is going to be in 4th grade. He is so excited to be able to ride the bus! Gavin did have to miss a lot of school for pre-K, so I am hoping now that he is not really on normal chemo he won't get sick as much. I just want him to be able to enjoy normal life and not be sick too much! Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and gifts and kindness.

UPDATE AS OF FEB 28, 2007
Gavin is in the ICU for pneumonia, doing stable, thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Update as of July 2007
Gavin is doing wonderful, since getting off the ventilator, been out of the hospital and healthy for a while! He does have to have a heart cath aug 2007, keep him in your prayers! Thanks!
Love, Julie, Gavin and Jonah Black.

*****IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE PICTURES (most are from first bout with cancer, I am slowly adding more recent pics) AND READ MY JOURNAL UPDATING GAVIN'S PROGRESS, GO TO VISITOR SIGN IN, THE PASSWORD IS GUEST AND THE USERNAME IS GUEST.THANKS!********