ENFIELD When 7-year-old Emma Duffin came down with strep throat last spring, her family never imagined the journey that illness would begin.

When Emma spiked a 104-degree fever, her mother took her to the emergency room at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs.

A doctor noticed Emma had dangerously low red and white blood cell counts, so she was sent to Connecticut Children's Medical Center for more tests. Her hemogobin level, normally a 12, was at 3. She received three pints of blood.

A few days later, a diagnosis: leukemia. A biopsy indicated the disease was located in her bone marrow.

"That was Mother's Day weekend," Allyson Duffin, Emma's mother, said recently. "We cried and then said, 'Now what?' "

Samples of Emma's bone marrow were sent to the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester, Minn., Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to determine what type of leukemia she had.

It turned out Emma has a rare form of leukemia called acute undifferentiated leukemia that is especially rare in children, according to Dr. Natalie Bezler, Emma's doctor at CCMC. Effects on the cellular level can differ from patient to patient.

"At first I thought cancer was a disease by itself, you just had 'cancer,' " Emma said. "But no, there's different types of cancer."

'Perfect Match'

The summer brought a new set of challenges for the Duffin family.

More here:
Emma's Journey: Brother's Bone Marrow, Positive Attitude Help Enfield Girl Battle Leukemia

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