When Jackson Pepper was 1 year old, his mother, Missi, noticed he had stopped rolling over and could no longer stand up.  When a blood test revealed Jackson's iron level was dangerously low, he immediately underwent three blood transfusions.  Next, his doctors at CHOC ordered a spinal tap.  The results were startling to his family - Jackson had leukemia.

"That was the worst day of our lives," said Missi. "We were devastated.  The day they told us, I couldn't hear, I couldn’t see - I just shut down."

Jackson's leukemia had not yet spread to his bloodstream or vital organs, but was "hiding" in his spine, which is why it had been undetected - until Jackson arrived at CHOC.

After being diagnosed, Jackson underwent almost nine months of aggressive chemotherapy in the CHOC outpatient cancer clinic.  Some weeks, he received chemo four days in a row, and his treatments lasted up to eight hours at a time.

Today, Jackson's cancer is in remission and he has moved to the secondary stage of his treatment, in which he will receive chemo once a month until he is 4 years old.

The Pepper family is thankful for having access to the experts at CHOC and look forward to celebrating Jackson's 4th birthday - and the end of his chemo.

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