Here's a news article about some recent research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7973678.stm

It suggests that a number of triggers are required for Leukemia to happen in children, starting with pre-leukemic cells in the womb, and finally an "unusual immune response"

4 years before diagnosis Sabrina had an extreme allergic reaction where her face became imflamed like a beach ball for 2 weeks, I've often wondered if this severe immune response might have had something to do with her later leukemia.

This is also interesting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7192420.stm

king Alex,

That is soo interresting. I have friends in the medical world that asked if my son had any head injuries (minor or major) before diagnosis as well as any body trauma  i.e. falls,bumps, torso bruising  They told me "unresearched" medical talk is that it is not uncommon to find 3-6 months prior to dx some sort of accident  I can't really give you any more information as I said it is just a common thread they have noticed in being around leukemia.  Not always true though for my son there was no such accident or injury.  I can relate to the sleepless nights others have spoken about wondering what,how this happened to my son.  I try not to dwell and beat myself up, but sometimes I can't shut it out.  My son had severe bacterial pneumonia 5mths prior to dx(B-cell ALL), before that he was very healthy.  I have 2 other kids and all 3 were breastfed, my leukemia kid was breastfed the longest and I have to say I was the healthiest during his preganancy...who knows!? I suppose if we could find the answers we are all looking for we would have the cure or at least the ability to prevent leukemia and from what I have read/heard so far we are unfortunately a long way off....

I'm now wracking my brain to think of something traumatic that might have happened around the time Emma got sick. I think I have it pinpointed to late June/early July. She came home from a 10-day beach vacation with her Dad and she had what I thought were freckles but turned out to be petichiae. But as far as I know, she didn't have a fever or any sort of hard fall or anything.

Interesting theory, though.

It’s parent nature to question the causes and events that could’ve contribute to our kids diagnoses. I often relate to parents of autistic children who had a normal healthy developing child to only start noticing the sometimes irreversible signs of Autism. They voiced their concerns and found some commonalities in their children’s diagnoses ( like the link between Autism and thimerosal containing vaccines). Studies failed to show a connection but the group of parents who believe the MMR vaccine trigged their children’s Autism continues to grow.

I personally would like to choose to spend my time researching or educating myself towards a cure rather than ‘what cause it?’ but this question will always haunted me and I think and know it’s perfectly OKAY!

One thing we ALL know. There are no definitive answers at this point to what the causes are. But there are a number of good possibilities. We should continue voicing our observations, concerns, ideas, theories, feelings, hypothesis, etc. From where I stand it is NOT a waste of time.

Dominique mom of Nathan, DX 02/07 at almost 3, PreB ALL, Tel-aml1, one ear infection 2 months prior DX, extremely healthy, tested positive for Epstein Barr virus at DX, straightly breastfed until 6 months old (breast milk ONLY) and breastfed until he was 13 months, had a swollen Lymph Node in his groin at 12 months after the MMR that only went down after chemo started, 80% organic diet. Paint and construction in our home and work in the 1^st trimester of pregnancy. We live about 5 miles away from Exon refinery and 2 miles from an inactive toxic Landfill (cape in the 80s). We used to live less than a mile from power lines when conceived. I quit smoking cigarettes 6 months before conceiving. No drugs or alcohol abuse history. No Leukemia history in both families. Blood/autoimmune disorder history (Grandmother has Lupus).

This is a very interesting thread. Seems like here, and in other places I've found, people meniton vaccines or significant illnesses in the few weeks/months prior to diagnosis more than anything else. For my son -- he's had his fair share of injuries and illnesses in his lifetime. Hospitialized for several weeks as a newborn w/ RSV, ear tubes/tonsillectomy at age 2, hit by a truck at age 5 (scary with head trauma/concussion, but no major injuries), major hand injury requiring 27 stitches at age 7. Ten months before diagnosis, he got a concussion and head trauma from a flag football game, but docs checked him out and said he was fine. Less than two months after that, he started having tonic-clonic seizures and was diagnosed w/ epilepsy. (Because of the location of the seizures' origins, neurologist says they are not related to the two major head traumas, but I'll always wonder.) Eight months after the epilepsy was diagnosed and controlled by meds, at age 10, he started having bad headaches -- his neurologist thought these were being caused by partial mini-seizures and upped his meds, but to rule anything else out his pediatrician ordered a CBC, which of course led us to the leukemia diagnosis. But other than a bout with strep throat in November, he had no illnesses, injuries, or vaccinations in the several months prior to his ALL dx in March. His white count at dx was 38,600 with 92% blasts in his bone marrow. The docs told us they thought the cancer cells started about a 3-6 weeks prior to diagnosis.

Kristen

Kristen,

Justin also diagnosed at age 10 with pre-b ALL, was hospitalized with RSV at 4 months of age.  Other than that, no serious illnesses/injuries.  Justin was bottle fed within a few days of birth because he developed "breast-feeding jaundice" and I gave up. The only surgery he had was removal of adenoids because of labored breathing at night.  Two theories I have read that I found interesting were 1) keeping our kids too healthy/germ free during the first year of life, and 2) eating too much processed meat?  Both are just crazy!  My other son's only difference in upbringing (age 8) is that I was able to breast feed for 11 months.  We also wondered after diagnosis if our granite counters and stone floors might be emitting too much radon in our house--so we had it tested and it was fine.  I think it's natural to wonder, but agree that it's not very productive to dwell---but it's hard.

Here's the comprehensive study done which pretty clearly dispells any link between either the mother's or the child's consumption of hot dogs and processed meats and the incidence of leukemia.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/160/11/1098

Interesting---Justin weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. I believe.  I wonder what is considered "high birth weight"?