Alexa Gutierrez On Leukemia Diagnosis: ” A Chance for a Second Life”
Alexa Gutierrez talks to Modern Parenting about her battle with leukemia.
Alexa Gutierrez, sister-in-law of Ruffa Gutierrez and wife to Elvis Gutierrez has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, wherein her body makes more white blood cells than red cells. In her own words, Alexa shares with Modern Parenting how she discovered the condition and how she and her family have been handling it.
Discovering the condition
Alexa said she first noticed Petechiae on her legs and back pain during Christmas. They were getting ready for their trip to Japan and Elvis immediately got a wheelchair at the airport.
“At night, I had cold sweats in Japan and to think it was very cold. I said, maybe I’m getting menopause already but I’m only 37. Even [when] putting makeup I would get tired easily and [to] think I’m a very hyper type of person who loves to move around. I also noticed my nose was bleeding and when I would breathe out blood would fly out,” she recalls.
She also shared that she experienced sores in her mouth and a red wound on her lips. She and Elvis love to walk but she would run out of breath while walking in Japan.
“Walking breaks would be 30 minutes and I told Elvis which is so not me that I would rather take a taxi, subway, or coaster then walk. On, January 1, I threw up my dinner and after that I did not have any appetite to eat till January 3. My energy level started to deplete, I would feel like throwing up just walking stairs or just walking to the elevator. Everyday when I wake up some new symptom would arise like my eye got red like sore eye. I always wanted to lay down, I was always extremely tired.”
Alexa adds that she fell twice while on the plane back to Manila. Elvis took her to the hospital after. “When I saw Elvis’ shadow I stood up and Elvis rushed me to the hospital when we landed. My white blood cells were 295,000 when the normal is 10,000. The next day, January 4, I found out I had leukemia.”
Getting better
Alexa is currently staying in the hospital where she has been under treatment. The mother of two is grateful that Elvis took her there immediately. “If Elvis did not get me to the hospital at that time Dr. Lopez said blood could have bled from my brain. I never left the hospital since then. Praise God the ER assigned me to Dr. Lopez from Brown University. He is been treating me ever since.”
Since being confined to the hospital, Alexa reveals that she has been responding well to the treatment as per her doctor. She adds that her body has not been making any more white blood cells. The condition also made her value what she calls her “second life.”
“This is a chance for a second life,” she said.
More about the Gutierrezs
What It Takes To Be A Gutierrez Mom
How Janine Gutierrez Coped with the Pressure Coming from a Showbiz Family
Lorin Bektas Gets Annabelle Rama to Narrate Her Makeup Tutorial
