Photo by Skip Lawrence Dale Sanders, 11, and his sister, Claudia, 16, enjoy many activities together. Dale is battling T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Claudia keeps Dale's website up to date and has started outreach efforts to raise awareness about childhood cancer.

It all happened rather quickly: on Sunday, a week of "feeling cruddy" culminated with 11 year-old Dale throwing up. The Frederick youngster had also developed a bruise on his torso that wouldn't go away. It was Wednesday, Claudia said, when Dale was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital and given a diagnosis: T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

A medical staff member told Dale's mother, Nancy Sanders, to get ready for a "new normal," she recalls.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-cell ALL) is one type of cancer that occurs when the bone marrow produces too many white blood cells. The typical 11-year-old has between 5,000 and 10,000 white blood cells per microliter of blood, Nancy Sanders said. When Dale was diagnosed, his white blood cell count was 490,000 per microliter.

So Dale began an intense course of treatment. While some childhood cancers require nine to 10 months of treatment, T-cell ALL requires 3 1Ú4 years of radiation and chemotherapy. Because these cells develop so slowly, it takes time to ensure that the cancer is truly cured, Nancy Sanders said.

The first months were hard, the family said. Dale couldn't keep food down and could barely walk from the family room to his bedroom.

Dale currently receives monthly chemotherapy treatment through a port in his chest and once every three months in his spine. This will continue for another two years, Nancy Sanders said.

Though he was out of school for 10 months, a tutor kept him on pace with his grade level. He attended half-days of school last year, and will begin full days at Ballenger Creek Middle School this year.

Aside from the physical side effects, such as the loss of feeling in his extremities that occasionally makes him trip or drag his feet, Dale's treatment restricts some of his day-to-day activities. He can't play the contact sports that he did before, like lacrosse and soccer, because of his port placement. His weakened immune system means the family has to limit their trips to restaurants and other public places. And he can't enjoy the fountain drinks and milkshakes many people take for granted because of the potential for bacteria to grow from the sugary residue on the drink spouts and mixing equipment.

Dale said he misses some of these things, especially the sports, but at the same time finds it difficult to remember a time before leukemia. The new normal, as his mom said.

Family support has been important in helping Dale thrive, from the frequent trips to Johns Hopkins for treatment, to the family's participation in cancer walks and fundraising events. Sixteen-year-old Claudia updates a website that tells Dale's story, and has done her own research on leukemia. She said reading stories about other kids with leukemia has helped her recognize some similarities in her brother's case.

Claudia has even started her own outreach efforts to local media to raise awareness about childhood cancer.

According to CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation, approximately 12,400 children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the U.S. About one in 300 boys and one in 333 girls will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20.

Despite the number of children diagnosed in the U.S. every year, Nancy Sanders said the funding for childhood cancer research is sadly lacking. According to CureSearch, just 3 percent of federal funding for cancer research is dedicated to the 12 major forms of childhood cancers.

Cancer affects children's bodies differently than adults, and children also need different concentrations and types of drugs to safely and effectively treat their developing bodies.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Nancy Sanders is hoping that she and parents of other children with cancer can make researchers and funders aware of this lack of research funding.

CureSearch and another national group, People Against Childhood Cancer, have together created an online petition to persuade government entities to allocate more funding to childhood cancer research.

As the push for more funding goes on, Dale and his family will continue fighting his leukemia. While he is obviously looking forward to the end of his treatment, Dale said he has another prize in mind too: a Chick-Fil-A milkshake.