The battle is won

Jennifer Kho

Bouncing up and down and yelling “Yay, yay, yay! Out, out, out!�

Hannah Butler, 8, anticipates the end of her chemotherapy treatment.

She is friendly and high-spirited, and has battled bone marrow

leukemia with endurance and energy for more than two years.

Hannah goes to the doctor for blood tests every two weeks, takes daily

chemotherapy pills and has regular spinal taps, biopsies and shots in her

legs, spine and chest.

She has a catheter in her chest for chemotherapy injections and

sometimes she can’t leave the house for weeks at a time because her

immune system is weak from medication.

But soon the ordeal will be over.

The catheter is coming out and visits to the doctor will be less

frequent after her therapy ends Sept. 16.

Hannah can’t wait.

“Once I get off chemo, I’m going to get my ears pierced,� she says.

“But I just want to be able to be normal again. I want to be able to fall

down without my doctors and friends immediately saying, ‘Are you OK? Are

you all right?’ If I just scraped my knee it won’t be a big deal, you

know?�

Hannah was featured in the Daily Pilot about a year ago, when she was

still in the midst of active chemotherapy treatment.

Now she is doing much better, says her mother, Chris Cameron.

Hannah has for months been in the “maintenance� stage of treatment and

her prognosis is excellent, Cameron says.

“Leukemia is the best children’s cancer to have because people know

the most about it,� she says. “She will always be monitored because [the

disease] will always be there, but hopefully it will be in remission

forever.�

The disease changed the dynamics of Hannah’s family, Cameron says.

“We’re a family that has always been active,� she says. “We go out to

eat, go out and do things. We’ve had wonderful friends and family who

have helped us through the year when she was home most of the time. Bill

[Butler, Hannah’s father] and I would alternate taking days off until I

finally took a leave of absence.�

Hannah missed most of second grade because of her treatments, but

didn’t miss any classwork.

A home teacher -- the same teacher she would have had in second grade

at Adams Elementary School -- visited after school and taught Hannah.

“The hardest part was not being able to go to school and missing out

on a lot of the physical stuff,� Hannah says. “I got to do the school

work, but I missed a lot of the stuff going on with my friends. One of my

friends moved and I didn’t even know she had moved until one month later.

My friend told me and I was like, ‘What? That’s not fair! I didn’t get to

say goodbye.’ �

Hannah missed only five days of class while she was in third grade,

and is looking forward to starting fourth grade.

Cameron says Hannah’s positive attitude has really helped her -- and

her family -- survive the disease.

“She’s just a really mature little girl,� Cameron says. “She’s very

perceptive, warm and funny. Her sunny personality is reflected in her

orientation to everything; it’s just who she is.�