Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Helping Hayden
One phone call changed 3-year-old’s life; ACH is working to save it
Hayden Yates was a typical little boy,
a rambunctious type who enjoyed being outside, being crazy and constantly pestering his older sister.
“He loved going to school, he loved church, and he just loved doing all the things little boys get to do when they’re three years old,” said his mother, Mindy Yates. That all changed in one phone call. “He hadn’t been feeling quite right before we got the call,” Yates said. “Every once in a while, he would complain about pain in his legs, but we shook it off as him just being tired from playing outside. We went out of town for a dance competition for his sister and he didn’t sleep well at all.”
Yates’ husband, Adam, stayed with Hayden at the hotel in Tulsa for the dance competition, and texted his wife that Hayden didn’t feel well and was screaming in pain.
“I thought it might be appendicitis, so we went to an urgent care facility,” Yates said. “They didn’t know what it was. We gave him ibuprofen. We went back to the competition and watched the ceremony and went out to eat. The next day, he wanted to go to school, so I let his teachers know what had happened.”
Hayden had grown lethargic and started running a low-grade fever soon after arriving at school, and the school called Yates. She picked him up and took him to see his pediatrician, who thought he might have a kidney infection. The pediatrician would touch a spot on his back and Hayden would wince, so the doctor ordered a urine culture.
“We started with antibiotics and went home. He took a nap and felt okay that afternoon, but then that night he woke up with a scream that a mother doesn’t like to hear,” Yates said. “We took him to the emergency room, did blood work and his platelet count was really low and he had lots of bruises on his legs. The blood culture showed an elevation in his white blood cell count, but that could have been caused by the possible kidney infection.”
After consulting with the ER physician, the pediatrician called the next morning to inform her Hayden had a type of blood cancer. The doctor said they needed to pack their bags and go to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock immediately to determine what type of cancer it was and to start treatment.
“It was a parent’s worst nightmare,” Yates said. “They had an ambulance waiting for us. I said, ‘please never give me a sick child,’ — I didn’t think I would be able to do it. But you just do it, and you do it because you have to.
“ACH has been amazing,” Yates said. “They’re your doctors, your counselors, your comforters — our journey began.”
Upon arrival, Yates said that ACH had a team of oncologists waiting for them. After reviewing the medical records from Fayetteville, ACH procured their own blood work so they could verify what type of cancer Hayden had.
“I had doctors at my disposal for seven days,” Yates said. “There were times I didn’t think I could absorb any more information because the doctors and nurses were so in tune to making sure we were getting all the information we needed. Whether it was Hayden’s treatment plan, what surgery he would need, the chemo port in his chest he needed for his chemotherapy, information on spinal taps, lumbar support, and then him needing bone marrow drawn to test things.”
The leg pain that Hayden had complained of was because of the elevated, immature white blood cells, which are the cancer cells. Since they didn’t have anywhere to go, they started pushing on his bones.
“Luckily, it was caught early,” Yates said. “It’s more easily treatable that way, and it’s not in his central nervous system. It’s Bcell, not T-cell.”
Hayden is currently enduring treatment, and he and his parents make the trek from Northwest Arkansas to Little Rock once — or sometimes twice — a week.
“There’s been some more intense treatments lately, but once we finish that, we’ll move on to long-term maintenance which includes another 2.5 years of chemotherapy, mainly with oral medication,” Yates said. “It’s a long process, and we just take it day-by-day. He’s handled it pretty well, in most of those phases, and we’re thankful for that.”
Yates is extremely excited about the facility planned for Springdale and thinks the need in this area is very high.
“I’ve heard 35-40 percent of their patients come from this area,” Yates said. “If we didn’t have to make that drive, our treatment days at the clinic would be less cumbersome. ”
A healthy majority of the interaction Hayden has nowadays is with his “family” at ACH.
“He loves the people at ACH,” Yates said. “He’s constantly asking questions, and he always has a smile on his face. Having another facility in Northwest Arkansas is going to be awesome, and I would only choose it if it was Arkansas Children’s Hospital.”
Having another facility in Northwest Arkansas is going to be awesome.