Jen McCoy / Daily Register
Watching cartoons and wearing a crown Friday, Emily Miller, 9, of Portage, goes through a bone marrow transplant at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison.

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PHOTO GALLERY: Emily Miller’s transplant, Aug. 29, 2008

MADISON - In Princess Emily Miller's kingdom Friday, she was bejeweled and dancing in bed during her bone marrow transplant at the American Family Children's Hospital in Madison. At 9 years old, the proper necessities for Emily were a (plastic) silver crown, gemstone rings on each finger and a pouch of fruit snacks.

"I've known her since she was a little spitfire and she still is," said Tracy Matusewic, certified pediatric oncology nurse for the hospital.

Nurses put a "Princess Emily" name tag on the quarantined room, which has two doorways for sterilization from the outside. Handmade notes from Emily served as her voice to the outside world: "Katie, will you be by nurse tonight?" and "Go away Johnny Bowtie."

"She fires people at least once or twice a day," said Cory Miller, Emily's father. "We have a doctor named Jon that used to wear a bow tie every day, and she doesn't like him because she had a fever one night at home (in Portage) and he told her she had to come back to the hospital."

"I fired Katie (a nurse) for three weeks, until we got over it," Emily said.

Emily is fighting her third type of cancer and the physical and emotional toll of having cancer longer than half her life sometimes catches up to her. But it is her spunk that has kept her alive, according to her mother, Jen.

"If she didn't have that type of attitude and spunk - sometimes I am pulling my hair out because of the attitude, but I don't think she would have made it this far," Jen, of Portage, said.

Matusewic has been working with Emily since her first diagnosis of acute lymphocytic leukemia in 2002. Emily was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in 2007, and then diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia this April.

"To relapse with a third form of cancer is very rare. I don't think anyone knew what to make of it," Matusewic said. "I think a transplant day for a kid is a day of hope."

A bottle of holy water from her grandfather was on the shelf next to Emily, as cells from a female donor in Europe dripped into a tube and up into a port in her chest.

"You can see it with your eyes, you can see things moving around in there," Cory said.

To prepare for the surgery, the body must be wiped clean of its own immune system - which in Emily's case carries acute myeloid leukemia - through chemotherapy to rebuild a healthy immune system from the donor's marrow. Doctors predict that with a successful transplant, Emily has a 30 percent chance of being cancer-free, Cory said. "Right now, she has less of an immune system than an infant," Cory said.

"That's why today is her new birthday," Jen said.

It was difficult for Emily's parents to convince her to stay in bed for the transplant, as she wiggled around wanting to see the view of Picnic Point from her hospital room window.

Unexpected visitors Erik Prather and Matt Fischer of the University of Wisconsin Badger football team gave Emily a signed team program and chatted with her about the Disney Channel sitcom on the television.

"We have players stop by every Friday before a home game," Prather said. "There are two other guys here, too."

The "Teen Room" in a wing on the fourth floor of the hospital captured the attention of Isiah, Emily's 7-year-old brother, with video games and hope of going back home soon.

"I'm waiting for it to be over so we can go swimming more often," Isiah said.

After a game of "Sonic the Hedgehog" and discussions about the superpowers of flight ("I'd want wings and a jet pack"), Cory informed Isiah that the transplant was done within two hours.

Emily was then out of her room using glitter and glue to create new signs for her door. Some of the craft material found its way into her short, dark hair.

"It's glitter fuzz," Emily added. "Kids are so adorable that they have to go on, live, until they are up there (in heaven)."

A quick spin followed down the hallway on top of her IV cart and Emily met alone with her psychologist to go over the events of the day. She will remain at the hospital for another four to six weeks, her mother said. Emily then will return home and be kept out of public places for about a year because of the risk of infection. She has to rebuild her whole body.

"We don't plan too much in advance. It's day by day," Jen said. "But she's going to live it up."

jmccoy@capitalnewspapers.com 

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