EMMA ROSE PAULSON OFFERING SUPPORT TO KIDS WITH CANCER, ONE HUG AT A TIME

Emma RosE Paulson had a bad April. The 21-year-old leukemia patient checked into the H.O.T. (Hematology, Oncology and Transplant) unit at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin on March 31 to continue her third block of chemotherapy, and seemingly everything that could go wrong did. The chemo caused such tremendous pain in her eyes that she had to hold them shut, even with drops. An odd episode of delirium preceded the onset of a blood infection, aka sepsis, which led to a few days in the I.C.U., and another complication of the chemo, a painful inflammation in her mouth called mucositis, prevented her from eating. Troubling nausea swelled into vomiting that repeated every hour or two through Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, and a couple days later, a fever prompted a CT scan that led to a diagnosis of colitis, meaning her colon could rupture at any moment. Next she developed a blood clot in her arm, which would necessitate shots every day for two months, and the colitis was found to be a bacterial form, meaning she had to stay “on isolation,” not mixing with others.

Paulson is in the middle of her second battle with leukemia. The previous fight began in 2012, when she was 16. Just 10 months in, she and her mom, Kim, a teacher, started a small organization, Emma Rose – A Patient Helping Patients. It delivers several dozen care packages to children with cancer each month, many of them at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. “We have always wanted to do something to help the other kids here,” Emma says. Families arriving for the first time are heartened by the toys and

comfort items delivered by Emma and Kim, judging by the thank-you notes they’ve received. Emma Rose connects to young cancer patients through her web presence and with hugs in hospital corridors, where she’s among the tallest patients.

In late April, Emma and Kim were putting together Mother’s Day packages filled with gift cards, Gummy Bears and eucalyptus pillow mist. Emma had just started eating solid food after several days on an I.V. diet. Soon after, the doctors announced that the chemo appeared to have driven the cancer out, so the second phase began, an arduous bone marrow transplant. She hopes to return to St. Mary’s College in Indiana in 2018 to finish her nursing degree and go to work in pediatric oncology. She could’ve undergone treatment at Froedtert Hospital, but she was more comfortable at Children’s. “We know everyone.” –