My life before Leukemia...

.....My life was going great until i got diagnosed with Leukemia in November 2006. Sure i had some bumps in the road, including a divorce in 2003 which was very hard for me because i had to move out of the house and leave my 3 kids who i love so much. I was so close to the kids and did everything with them. They called me Mr. Mom up here in Rockland County.

.....One of my biggest heartaches was my daughter Anna being born severely mentally disabled in 1994. She has a very rare disability. It is called 18p-syndrome. It is a Chromosome abnormality. She is missing a piece of the 18th Chromosome on the P side. She cannot speak at all. She has been in special ed programs all her life. Its very sad. However..she is in no pain and does not know she is disabled and for that i am thankful...

.....I was in business with my family when i got sick. I was doing very well financially and enjoying life to the fullest. I had gone on a great vacation to Italy in the summer of 2006. About 2 months later... i had severe back pain, night sweats and fever.

.....I went for blood work and got the bad news about having a very aggressive form of Leukemia. I'll never forget when Dr. King (my long time Doctor) called me at 8pm Wednesday night and asked me to come to his office and bring a driver with me. I knew it had to be bad news. I got to his office and he said: Lorenzo, I'm sorry to tell you that you have Acute Leukemia. It is a very aggressive and dangerous type of Leukemia. I thought it was a bad dream. I almost passed out. I fell on top of his desk and felt like my life was over.

.....Dr. King said I'm sorry to see this happen to such a good guy. He felt sad. I felt so sick. My life was just turned upside down. I kept seeing my kids in front of my eyes. I was then told to go to the emergency room at NY Presbyterian Hospital....

.....That's when my nightmare begins... i will continue this on my next post.

* Note*... That is a picture of my daughter Anna at age 3.