My daughter who has been battling Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) since age 11, is now 18 years old. We are from Miami and her doctor sent us here to receive better treatment. She was signed up for a new study called CAR-T 19. The side effects are high fevers, comatose, and seizures. Six days after receiving the CAR-T 19 cell infusion, my daughter went comatose. She had a grand mal seizure, something I had never seen before. I thought she was choking or having a heart attack. The nurse in the room started CPR and pushed the Code Blue button.
I started crying and screaming, "She is crashing, oh my God, she is crashing!" People came from everywhere to help her. I was so scared. I saw a nurse walk towards me. I thought she was sent from heaven to calm me. She kneeled down and said "Mama she is okay, she is breathing on her own. This was not a heart attack, it was a seizure. She is going to be okay. She is going to ICU so she can be monitored more closely".
Nurse Parema, thank you, thank you for coming out of the room when you did, like an angel from the clouds. I will never forget your voice in my ears, the calm you brought to my heart. You are the reason God made nurses!