Leandro Taveras Update - Good News!

The NPDF Executive recently received the enclosed note from Katherine and George Taveras regarding the medical update on their son, Leandro who is battling Leukemia.

Once again we are happy to pass on that there are no signs of Leukemia cells and Leandro continues to be in remission!!

He will be turning 10 years old in June and is looking forward to the summer vacation. We have signed him up for a few Oncology camps this summer since he is not able to attend a regular program. He will be going back to sleep-a-way camp at Paul Newman's "Hole in the Wall Gang Camp" in Connecticut in August.
Leandro is in the third phase of this treatment called "Maintaince" and into week 65. Should everything continue to go smoothly (meaning no relapses) this phase will continue to week 108.



After that, he would be off active treatment and go back every few months for check-ups. Chemotherapy treatment is daily and we go to the Hackensack University Medical Center every week for Physicals, leg injections and IV Chemotherapy. He still has the periodic spinal taps (Next one in July), and Bone Marrow Tests, Chemotherapy IV's daily, occasional Chest X-rays.

The past February he had surgery to remove his Port-A-Cath. His Oncologist felt that is had to be removed as it continually posed a risk for infection as it is a foreign object in the body. Whenever he had a fever we were sent to the ER and had several overnight stays to receive Antibiotics. The good part of the Port-A-Cath removal from his chest is that he is able to travel a few hours away from home now.

For Spring Break he had a 5 day much needed vacation to visit his grandparents in the Dominican Republic. He now receives his IV Chemotherapy treatment through his hand. This is not fun for him, since he is still so underweight and sometimes it takes them 4 or 5 tries and 45 minutes to even find a vein to get it started. We are currently going to start working with a specialist in human Biochemistry/Nutrition based in NYC to help his diet to counteract the damaging effects of Chemotherapy medicines are having on his body. Leandro Taveras is a 8-year-old boy who was active in sports and an “A” student until suddenly just a few months ago when he was struck with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a “liquid” tumor that spreads through the bloodstream.

Leandro's mother is Finnish-American and father is Dominican-American. As was the case with “Baby Emily” Mendoza, who came into the lives of the members of the Police Foundation during Christmas, 1998, Leandro Taveras' plight was brought to the Police Foundation this past Christmas by two members, Port Authority Police Officer Michael Barry and New Jersey State Police Officer Sgt. James Bobak. This child's life can be saved, but it will require 3 years of aggressive medical treatment. Please make as generous a contribution your circumstances will allow to help offset the enormous costs this American family is enduring while they fight to save young Leandro's life.

Please send your contributions to:
Leandro Taveras Fund c/o National Police Defense Foundation
21 Kilmer Drive,Bldg. 2, Suite F,
Morganville, NJ. 07751