Alina Margot Galletta

Alina was diagnosed with high-risk stage IV Neuroblastoma on 12/10/04, just two days before her 4th birthday. Shortly after, she started her first round of high dose chemo (COG A3973) at Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital. We soon heard about Sloan-Kettering in NYC, that they specialized in Neuroblastoma and decided she would benefit from their experience and advances in research. They have one of the best pediatric surgeons in the world, Dr. LaQuaglia. They were replacing transplants with 3F8 antibodies and while there was no guarantee of better prognosis there would be less toxicity and less late effects. Alina and mom moved into the NYC Ronald McDonald House in Jan '05 and Alina started her 3rd round of chemo at Sloan (N9 protocol). Her primary tumor including both adrenal glands were removed on 2/28/05. This was followed by two more rounds of high dose chemo, then radiation to her abdomen (primary tumor bed), legs (still had slight uptake) and skull (lots of disease at diagnosis). In April she began 3F8 antibody treatments and in Oct. after 5-1/2 cycles she became HAMA positive. She completed 6 cycles of Accutane on 12/10/05.

Alina is now classified as NED (no evidence of disease) since she had her first clear MIBG scan on 8/20/05. She followed-up every 3 months with CTs of head, chest, abdomen & pelvis, MIBG scans, bone marrow aspirates/biopsies (4 sites) and 24hr urine catecholamine tests until 01/08. She will continue with only physicals, blood and urine tests every 6 months.

So far late effects of her treatment include permanent moderate high-frequency hearing loss and adrenal insufficiency, however we are thankful to be together again at home and pray that there truly is no cancer left in her body. The relapse rate is very high and there is no real cure (yet) for relapsed Neuroblastoma.

If you are interested in helping Alina and other children with Neuroblastoma, or just want to learn more, please take a look at the links below. So far Alina has been very lucky (everything is relative). We’ve met many children and families that are suffering so much and others who have lost so much and we ask that you please pray with us that a cure is found today!

Journal

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 3:06 PM CDT

On Tuesday I took Alina to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute to get a second opinion on her eye situation. The doctor there was referred to us by her regular ophthalmologist so it was not surprising that they were pretty much in agreement. Her strabismus is considered ‘complex’ and unpredictable. He thinks there are three things going on and that we should fix one thing at a time, starting with correcting the muscle that makes the eye go up. That will mean at least one surgery coming up in the fall and we’ll go from there. The second thing is the eye crossing in toward her nose, different muscle and second surgery. The third thing is that the eye drifts up – I’m not clear if or how that might be resolved. Her vision also dropped to 20/40 in her left eye so we have to increase the patching to 2 hours a days – I expect a good fight from her. It was weird being back there. The first time was when she was 3 months old with the thought that she had a tumor in her eye and the surgery that followed. I can’t believe that was seven years ago.

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

Patient Room: Home in Dania Beach , FL

Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital
Hollywood, FL
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York City, NY

Links:

E-mail Author: mrdecar@comcast.net

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