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We celebrated Destiny (sometimes known as "Tiny" to her friends and family)'s 20 Birthday... and her 17th year of SURVIVAL on May 10th - 2007...!!! Destiny was diagnosed with a late stage of Neuroblastoma on her 3rd birthday in May of 1990. At that point she was given a "5%" chance of survival. She endured multiple chemos, surgeries, radiation and a bone marrow transplant, and was considered to be in remission in April of 1991. We were told that if she could continue in remission for five years they would consider her "cured". So, on her 9th birthday, in 1996, we had "A True Celebration" at our Church - Mt. Paran Church of God. Just three months later she relapsed. At that point she was given a "zero" chance of survival. She again suffered through multiple chemotherapy treatments. Destiny is now almost nine years post relapse. We are now writing a book about these 14+ years and how much our faith has sustained us through this. Will it publish? We will see. If so, the 'working' title is "Finding hope in the woods". The title is based on the question that we heard often, "Is she out of the woods yet?". After her relapse they made it clear that there was 'no such thing' as a cure of a relapse of this disease (not that we accepted that then... and we believe Destiny - and God's grace - have proven them wrong). Her continued challenges may keep us 'in the woods', but it matters not... for we know where our hope comes from.
Journal
Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:57 AM CST Friends, Family and Fellow Fighters,
We are now a week 'post-op' and we are THRILLED with how quicly Destiny is recovering. After a couple 'tough' days at home where she couldn't climb the stairs, she is now getting around almost normal and has started getting out of the house (even Christmas shopping...!).
The best response we got came from our dear friend, and awesome NB researcher (Dr. Pat Reynolds) who said, 'there goes Destiny again, living in the "single digits"...' Reminding us that, at initial diagnosis she was given a 5 ong-term survival pronosis - then when she relapsed she was given 'zero'... This time they told us that 'over 90 of the tumors in the area of the kidney are malignant. Again... she was in the SINGLE DIGITS...! She continues to shock them everytime... (and we are awe-struck by God's grace).
David - Destiny's Dad - Hurst
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