Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

PSST, Taylor Swift, I know a boy who likes you. He loves your music and thinks you're really sweet. He thinks you're really cute, too. No wait, he actually said "beautiful. " His name's Kevin McGuire, and yesterday he poured his big, romantic heart out to me from his room on the third floor of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. That's the oncology unit. He's dealing with a relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He's very tired and a little homesick. But when I asked what he'd say to you if he saw you in person, he perked up a little and said he already had something prepared.

Small plates make small eaters Everyone who has ever read a diet book knows this tip: Use a smaller plate, and you are likely to put less food on it. Now researchers have found the same is true for children taking food at school lunch. A study showed the "food environment" - conditions around eating - counts, the researchers from universities in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia said. The researchers repeatedly watched 42 first graders serve themselves lunch at school, using plates and bowls of adult size and half as large.

A 7-year-old pixie named Emily Whitehead has erased any remaining doubts about the power of a University of Pennsylvania gene therapy to eradicate certain blood cancers. The therapy is personalized using each patient's immune system "T cells. " Three weeks after Emily's infusion in April, she was completely free of the leukemia that had been on the verge of killing her. Just as important, she showed that the T cell therapy can have catastrophic side effects, and pointed the way for her doctors to find an antidote.

When he's not playing tag with his brothers, Brian Swiekczek's favorite activity is playing a new video game called Police Artist. The 9-year-old from Upper Providence Township enjoys mixing and matching clues with the computer memory game. In fact, his mother, June Swiekczek, said sometimes the only thing that can pull him away from the game is a flashing light indicating that he has an incoming message on his computer modem. The message is from his friends at Rose Tree Elementary School who have been corresponding with Brian through a new computer service called Prodigy during his recovery from a bone marrow transplant performed in Seattle.

The signs in the fourth grade class at Rose Tree Elementary School read: "Welcome Back, Brian. " And when 9-year-old Brian Swierczek finally made his appearance Friday, the 21 students waved banners and applauded wildly. "He looks good," said his friend Brian Boschetti, also 9. "This is the best Christmas present anyone could have," said his teacher, Audrey Foster. Brian, who lives in Upper Providence Township, was back after a bone-marrow transplant at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center/Swedish Hospital Medical Center in Seattle to combat acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia.

Leave it to Tom Cruise to try to one-up Brooke Shields. No sooner do we learn that Shields has brought a new life into the world than Cruise puts forth the same glad tidings. Shields, 40, gave birth yesterday to a daughter named Grier Hammond Henchy. According to People mag, the baby, born in L.A., weighed in at seven pounds and measured 20 inches. Shields and hub Chris Henchy, 42, have another daughter, Rowan, who will be 3 next month. Cruise, 43, and his inamorata, Katie Holmes, 27, also gave birth to a girl yesterday in L.A., according to Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson.

Erin Curtis has always loved her grandmother's stucco farmhouse, which sits on a bank of the Perkiomen Creek with a front-porch swing, sunflowers in summer, and remnants of a roadside stand where she used to sell her uncle's produce. The Schwenksville property has been in her family for five generations, but last spring, her 92-year-old grandmother fell and had to move to assisted living. The family considered selling the house to pay for her grandmother's care. "To drive by and know it's not yours anymore after already losing what seems like almost everything . . . " Curtis, 29, said.

Bishop Eustace Prep overcame strong headwinds, choppy water, and stiff competition to win the girls' senior eight championship yesterday in the 83d annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta on the Schuylkill. The Crusaders dedicated the final race to their coxswain, junior Kerry Walsh, who knows a thing or two about surmounting hurdles. The 5-foot-1, 106-pounder was found to have acute lymphoblastic leukemia six years ago and just 10 months ago had both hips replaced. Walsh, a 17-year-old from Cherry Hill, has bravely battled the fast-growing cancer.

IN THE REGION Jazz buys Eusa Pharma Jazz Pharmaceuticals P.L.C. will acquire Eusa Pharma Inc., which has its U.S. headquarters in Bucks County, for $650 million in cash. Founded in 2006, Eusa employs about 180 at its offices in Langhorne; Oxford, United Kingdom; and Lyon, France. Bryan Morton, who is founder, president and CEO of Eusa, will remain with the company, according to a statement issued by the companies. Under the terms of the transaction, an additional $50 million cash payment would be made once Eusa's lead product, Erwinaze, attains an undisclosed U.S. net sales target in 2013.