Celebrating a milestone: Kalispell girl gets good news after years of cancer treatment

For a girl who just celebrated her eighth birthday, Gabby LeDuc has seen more than her years would indicate.

Instead of spending time in kindergarten with her friends, she was dealing with acute lymphoblastic leukemia — a fast-growing cancer of white blood cells. It was May 18, 2012, and Gabby was just 5 years old.

But as of Sept. 12, she is officially done with chemotherapy treatment. She’ll be going in for monthly tests to check her blood levels for the next year, but her mother, Kathy, is excited.

“She’s doing quite remarkable,” she said. “There might be a few setbacks, but we’re working with them. She doesn’t have the stamina of other kids.”

Chemotherapy officially ended July 23. Her “port” was removed Aug. 15 and a follow-up on Sept. 12 showed very promising levels. For the next year Gabby will go in for tests once a month, then every three months for a year and then every six months.

Eventually, she will be tested just once a year if her blood work remains healthy.

To celebrate, the LeDucs, friends, family and parishioners of the Risen Christ Catholic Church in Evergreen turned out in Gabby’s honor on Sunday. The party was a combination of her 8th birthday, a chemo-free party and her Make-a-Wish sendoff.

In attendance was Luke Yates, a Spokane-based gospel singer who visited the LeDucs in the hospital and wrote Gabby a song. He led the group in a round of “Happy Birthday,” before Gabby blew out the candles on her “My Little Pony” cake.

For the little girl and her family, the worst has passed, but they aren’t away from trouble yet.

“It’s not that I want bad news, but I brace myself for it every time we go in,” Kathy said. “Gabby is done with chemo, but in her mind, treatment isn’t done until the ‘pokes’ stop. That won’t be for five years or so.”

The LeDuc family has a history of blood cancer, so Kathy feared the diagnosis as a death sentence when she first heard.

“You hate to say that, but with my own experience... it was just scary,” she said.

The family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Spokane while Gabby received treatment at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital.

Her grandmother, Joann McQueen, stayed with the LeDuc family for seven of the nine months of treatment, and served as sort of a caretaker for the Ronald McDonald House.

“The kids knew me and the single mothers would come to me for help,” McQueen said. “I became the grandmother of the hospital.”

Gabby’s treatment was intense early on after she was diagnosed three years ago. She underwent a bone marrow biopsy, spinal taps, a bone marrow aspiration, a port insertion and several rounds of chemotherapy and steroids. There have been many ups and downs along the way.

Gabby’s father, Ryan, has been a source of support, visiting the two in the hospital while maintaining a job to support the family in the Flathead.

The LeDucs had stayed at a Ronald McDonald House before. When Gabby was born, her esophagus had grown into her trachea, so surgery was needed to separate the two. Her second stint in the hospital wasn’t easier, and Kathy said her daughter was old enough to understand what was happening, which made things difficult.

“But treatment was fabulous, the doctors were all so kind,” Kathy said. “I would highly recommend Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital. They did so much for us.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation kicked in for Gabby, as it has for thousands of children facing life-threatening diseases. Mary Anne Gill, a volunteer for the organization, helped set up Gabby’s wish and announced it to the group at the party.

In a short period of time, the LeDucs will travel to Disney World, where Gabby will get the princess treatment at the “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique,” a Disney spa for little girls. Attached are vouchers to many of the area’s attractions.

“Gabby had another wish,” Gill said. “To have an experience with dolphins. Because she had two wishes, Make-A-Wish was not able to meet the second one. But, we have a very generous group of men who have stepped up to allow Gabby her dolphin excursion. The Knights of Columbus have paid for the entire thing.”

For the LeDucs, the support from the community, the charitable organizations, and private artists like Yates have been a major relief -- despite the nature of dealing with childhood cancer.

“It’s really a roller-coaster,” Kathy said of her daughter’s cancer battle. “There are ups and downs and you just have to strap on and endure the ride.”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.