Clinic laboratory makes potentially life-saving diagnosis

Published Nov. 10, 2008
By Corey Dahl
21st Space Wing Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Most of the drama in medicine is reserved for emergency rooms and ambulance crews.

Yet, the medical clinic's laboratory here got a taste of excitement Sept. 29 when its staff made a potentially life-saving discovery.

Lab worker Elena Spangler was analyzing the blood work of a 12-year-old boy who had been brought to his doctor with a sore throat when she caught something much more serious. Running a complete blood cell count to check for something like mono, Mrs. Spangler instead found an extremely high number of white blood cells, which can indicate leukemia.

"I just ran the sample like a normal, regular sample and was shocked," she said.

Mrs. Spangler alerted the boy's doctor and lab leadership, who verified her findings and confirmed them with a second blood sample.

Within four hours of the first sample, clinic staff had the boy and his parent in an ambulance, en route to Children's Hospital in Denver, where he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. The disease can be fatal if left untreated but, with an early catch, patients can expect an 85 percent survival rate.

"If the blood hadn't been drawn, it probably wouldn't have been caught," Mrs. Spangler said.

It was a rare moment of drama for the laboratory, which usually analyzes fairly routine blood samples.

"Day-to-day work in the lab is pretty monotonous," said Master Sgt. Dan Cockrell, who helped verify the findings. "To see something like this come across is a rarity."

Yet, the staff handled it extremely well, falling back on studied procedures instead of panicking, said Tech Sgt. Dawn Robb-Wooten.

"We go through training and we do case studies, so when it actually happens, everything just seems to fall into place," she said. "Everything just went really smoothly."

And, though the diagnosis wasn't good news for the family, the staff said their role in the save was a nice reminder of their importance to the 21st Space Wing's mission.

"It's diagnoses like this that help the mission move forward and show everyone that, no matter what happens, the medics here are on the ball," Sergeant Cockrell said.

Col. John Sell, 21st Medical Group commander, said he couldn't be more proud of his staff's role in diagnosing, and possibly saving the life of, their patient.

"We're a basic medical lab that supports our delivery of primary care health care," Colonel Sell said. "It was their attention to detail that gave this young child a better chance to survive. They focused on the basics of what their responsibilities are - being a rock solid clinical lab. I'm couldn't be more proud of them."

Attention to Detail