By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
With three boys between the ages of 2 and 4, Matt and Amanda Milligan’s family life was already a happy kind of hectic.
When Noah, one of their 2-year-old twins, was put on antibiotics for suspected strep throat in August, it was no big deal. Kids typically go through multiple bouts of strep that can be knocked out by antibiotics.
But when Noah’s illness wouldn’t go away and his neck became swollen, the Milligans took him back to the doctor, who promptly ordered a blood test.
That’s the moment life changed for the Milligan family.
An air ambulance rushed Noah to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Because his thymus gland was so enlarged, the medical crew couldn’t sedate and intubate Noah. Amanda rode in the helicopter with Noah, and Matt followed by car.
“It was terrifying,” Matt said.
Noah, normally a “goofball,” was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of aggressive blood cancer where the bone marrow produces too many immature white blood cells, causing them to accumulate in the blood and other tissues. It is considered a fast-growing, malignant neoplasm of the bone marrow.
The family spent the next seven days at Nationwide, with seemingly endless rounds of “horrible procedures” on Noah.
Noah has begun a projected 2½ years of infusions to help his little body fight off the leukemia. He has a port in his chest, for the drugs to flow through during his treatments at Toledo Hospital.
“With everything they’ve done, he’s done shockingly well,” Matt said.
Noah’s diagnosis and treatment have changed everything for the Milligans, Matt shared while Amanda was at a treatment with Noah last week. The chemotherapy, lasting several hours at time, is four or five days each week. Noah frequently undergoes lumbar punctures to measure the spinal fluid for possible cancer cells.
Doctors warned the parents that the 30-day period of high steroids would make Noah very hungry – at all times of day and night.
“He would wake up in the night and need a full-blown meal,” Matt said. “He was eating non-stop.”
And like many chemo patients, Noah began to lose his hair.
“So we just shaved it off,” Matt said. “He just wears his hat everywhere.”
The frequent and lengthy hospital visits have taken a toll on the family’s finances. Matt and Amanda (formerly Thurman), who both graduated from Bowling Green High School in 2010, are both physical therapists. Their employers have been good about time off, but their income has dropped off since one of them has to take Noah to treatments four or five days a week.
While the couple has health insurance coverage, they also have obligations of student loan payments, house payments and other bills – and one less income coming in.
Meanwhile, Matt and Amanda are trying to maintain some normalcy in the lives of their other sons, Eli who is 4½, and Noah’s identical twin brother Everett.
“Before all of this, you could not tell them apart,” Matt said.
That has been difficult to watch, with Everett growing a half inch taller than Noah since the diagnosis, and Noah experiencing so much swelling and weight gain.
For Eli, normalcy means getting to go back to preschool at St. Aloysius … sometimes. The family has to be hypervigilant about germs. When common childhood sickness is going around school, or if Noah’s immune system is especially low, Eli has to stay home.
“He can’t get sick,” Matt said of Noah. “We have to be careful where we take him.”
There was no big family Thanksgiving gathering this year. The parents have been warned by doctors that simple ailments like a cold or even a cut on Noah’s finger can have dire consequences. His physicians would have to treat those as a full blown septic infection, Matt explained.
“We’ve been really trying to avoid anyone getting sick” in the family, Matt said.
Eli’s teachers at St. Al’s have been very conscientious about having Eli use hand sanitizer, making the family aware of illnesses among other kids at school, and bringing schoolwork for Eli to work on at home.
“They obviously don’t fully understand what is happening,” Matt said of Eli and Everett.
The parents have been told that Noah’s twin, Everett, is at a high risk of getting leukemia or lymphoma.
“So we’re paranoid,” Matt said. Everett has been tested a few times, with no problems identified.
The Milligans have strong family support, helping to watch the boys while Matt is working and Amanda takes Noah to treatments. Somedays that means nine hours at the hospital, starting with 6:30 a.m. appointments for lumbar punctures.
With the treatments, there is a success rate of 80% for no recurring cancer, the parents have been told.
“He’s been hitting all his marks. There have been no delays,” Matt said.
The parents hope the painful memories of this period won’t linger for Noah. “We’re hopeful since he’s 2 that he won’t remember all of this,” Matt said.
The Milligans are grateful for all the support that has come their way.
“The whole community has been great,” Matt said. “St. Al’s has been amazing.”
Community to rally around Milligans
A fundraiser for Noah Milligan is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 13, from 7-10 p.m., at Howard’s in downtown Bowling Green.
The event will include food, a 50/50 raffle and silent auction including gift baskets, gift cards and experiences donated from individuals and local businesses.
The show will begin with three comedians, Mark Philipps, Jacob Barr and Brad Wenzel. The show will continue with two musical acts from Eric Tater Edwards and Truss.
The fundraiser is being organized by Jared Gill, whose friendship with the Milligans goes back to elementary school.
“I’ve known Matt and Amanda my entire life, we grew up together. Heck, I was there when Matt asked Amanda out in fifth grade,” Gill said.
When Gill heard about Noah, he reached out to his friends.
“Amanda described to me all their hardships about work, schedules, money and health – all of which were already being stretched too thin,” he said. “It breaks your heart to hear something like that.”
The Milligans never asked Gill for help, but he could tell they needed some. He offered to mow their lawn and pick up groceries, but Matt and Amanda said they and extended family had it under control.
“I’ll be honest, it just bothered me I couldn’t do anything. I kept thinking how do people get through this type of thing alone? It takes a village and I am a part of their village,” Gill said. “I don’t have many other resources at my disposal but I used to dabble in stand-up so that’s where my head went.”
Gill remembered stand-up comedian Mark Phillips, who organized an open mic fundraiser to help people who lost their homes to a large apartment fire in Bowling Green earlier this year.
Phillips has never met the Milligans, but when Gill told him about Noah, he booked most of the talent and the venue.
“‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is one of my favorite movies and the ending makes me cry every time when the town comes together to help George,” Gill said. “I have secretly always wanted to rally a whole town around someone deserving – the Milligans are indeed deserving.”
Below is a link to Noah’s CaringBridge where the family is posting updates on his treatments and journey.
https://www.caringbridge.org/site/4399854d-6880-11ef-9a38-553ad3aa7d6c
