Children's Miracle Network

Ministry Saint Joseph's Children's Hospital

ELLIE HELLWEG

Ellie Hellweg

It was fall 2005, and Ellie Hellweg of Plover had a fever – again. Though her parents, Christopher and Monica thought it was strange that she suffered from fevers on and off during the past month, they also knew the rest of the family had been sick with the flu during that time. But things became worse on December 23.

“During dinner Ellie started screaming that she was hot,” said Monica. “We immediately took Ellie to the emergency room at Saint Michael’s Hospital in Stevens Point. That same day she was transferred to Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Marshfield because of the severity of what the doctors had found in her test results.”

As the Hellweg family soon learned, Ellie had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a common childhood cancer.

“ALL is the most common type of cancer we see in children. It is where the child’s body creates too many white blood cells blocking normal blood cell-formation in the marrow, resulting in insufficient production of red cells and platelets,” said Divya-Devi Joshi, MD, Marshfield Clinic Pediatric Oncologist on staff at Saint Joseph's Children's Hospital.

“On Christmas morning we had our first experience with Children’s Miracle Network,” said Monica. “In the middle of the night a nurse was pulling a wagon of toys. She said they were gifts from Santa for both of our kids. We thought she would leave a few gifts for each of our two children, but the whole wagon full of presents was for us! We were so amazed. Although we were in the Hospital for Christmas, we had a “good” Christmas, thanks to Children’s Miracle Network.”

Ellie had to undergo chemotherapy every week to beat the cancer. Though difficult at times, Monica and Chistopher have been able to let Ellie live a normal life.

“Even though this was a very difficult time for the family, their support really made the difference in how she’s always so smiley and happy,” said Rebecca Peaslee, Ellie’s Pediatric Nurse at Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital.

Today Ellie is still undergoing chemotherapy, but only once a month instead of every week. Although she sometimes still gets fevers, Ellie has been fortunate in not suffering a lot of side effects from the medications and chemotherapy. Her life has been as normal as possible thanks to her parents, as she attends Roosevelt Elementary School in Plover and participates in many activities such as dance, painting and making crafts.

“We feel fortunate to be receiving care at Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. It impresses me how the staff treats our other child, Noah, like they treat Ellie,” said Monica. “They make every effort to talk to both children and are very supportive of the whole family. This is important when your child is sick, because most of the time it affects the whole family.”

Patti Shafto-Carlson
Director of Development - Children's Services
cmn@ministryhealth.org