Name: Willem Broeckof

Listen to his story:

Diagnosis: Leukemia

Kathy Broeckof had a normal pregnancy, and although Willem was born with Down Syndrome, he was never sick a day in his young life.  In February 2007, they brought Willem to the ED at Wolfson Children’s Hospital due to an ear infection.  It was at that time that Michael and Kathy heard what no parents ever want to hear – due to blood levels, they found that their 3 year old son, Willem, had Leukemia.   The same day that little Willem went to the Emergency Department for an ear infection he was receiving chemo-therapy for his new found Leukemia.

This is a hard thing for any family to go through, and the family thanked the Child Life department at Wolfson for helping Willem’s older sister to understand what he was going through.  Kathy is a nurse, familiar with leukemia, but says that she was expecting Willem, as a downs baby, to have further complications – he did not.  Because the team at Wolfson Children’s Hospital was able to catch the leukemia so early, his prognosis is 99 percent!