| "If we
didn't have the support of everybody, we wouldn't
have been able to bring him to Boston,"
where the procedure was performed, said his
mother, Kim. "We just want them to know he
made it through the transplant and the doctors
were very optimistic. He did better than
expected." Anthony, who
at three years of age was diagnosed with acute
lymphocytic leukemia, received the transplant on
October 5 at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He
had to remain in isolation for three weeks
following the surgery, and then stay in the
hospital for another two weeks for observation.
While in Boston, the family stayed at the Ronald
McDonald House.
The Bontempo
family - which also includes dad Louie,
five-year-old Alexis and one-year-old Gianna -
returned to their Center Moriches home last
month. And on October 26, Gianna's first
birthday, Anthony was able to celebrate his
"breaking out," marking the fact that
his cell count had reached a desired level for
three days in a row, a major step towards
recovery. When such levels are achieved, the Dana
Farber Institute has a ceremony in which the
child breaks through a wall of cardboard bricks.
"He's
through the worst part of it," Kim said from
Anthony's Stony Brook Hospital room. "He's
hanging in there, he's just sick of
hospitals." Since his immune system is still
weak, Anthony is very susceptible to illness. He
was hospitalized with a fever on November 28, but
"He's doing really, really well. They just
have to be very careful right now.
"He'll
be out of school for a year," said Kim.
"He can't be indoors with children. He can't
be indoors with a lot of people."
A fundraiser,
which Kim expects to be the last, will be held on
December 16 at Sayville Lanes from 2 to 4 p.m.
Everyone, including children, is invited to find
a sponsor and spend the afternoon bowling. Prizes
will be awarded and a raffle will be held with a
$1,000 first prize, $500 second prize and $200
third prize.
For sign-up
sheets or information, one may call Anthony's
aunt, Laura Cimino at 286-6690.
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