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Welcome to Dawson's Web page. This page is provided to keep you updated on Dawson's progress. "Love you whole world" says Dawson
On February 4, 2005 our worst nightmare came true. Dawson was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma. What started out as a simple black eye around Christmas developed into his eyeball then appearing larger than the other. We immediately went to the doctor thinking that he had a eye injury. He had complained for a couple weeks of leg aches, we thought it was just growing pains. After visiting the pediatrician, then the eye doctor the next day, they sent him for a cat scan and found the tumor behind his left eye. We were devastated but it only got worse. We were sent to Iowa City and they suspected from the beginning, Neuroblastoma. I wanted them to be all wrong, but on Friday, February 4 the most important people in his life sat outside a waiting room praying. They confirmed the nightmare was true. They found his abdominal was full of tumer also and suspected in his bone marrow also. The CT revealed an abdominal mass arising from the right adrenal gland and a second mass anterior to the aorta, likely representing a nodal metastasis. The head MRI revealed bilateral intraorbital masses. The bone scan revealed suspisious bony metastases to L1, L3, left femoral neck and left parietal bone. The MIBG was positive in the abdomen, left periorbit, bilateral proximal femora, and bilateral iliac crest. A bone marrow biopsy showed extensive bilateral replacement of the bone marrow by tumor cells, most consistent with neuroblastoma. Dawson's tumor pathology of the mass revealed poorly differrentiated neuroblastoma , unfavorable histology, n-myc oncogene non-amplified. All of this information was way to much to digest and only made us sick to our stomachs with fear.
Jeff & I didn't even want to even go home, we were so scared. We came back four days later ready to fight this. That's exactly what he's doing and we are with him every step of the way, we will fight this disease until he is rid of it. He is a survivor!
Dawson has recieved 6 rounds of chemotherapy, two surgerys to remove his abdominal tumor and has undergone a stem cell transplant. At the time of transplant he was declared NED - No Evident Disease. Neuroblastoma has a very high rate of relapse, we are doing everything in our power to prevent that.
Dawson began being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, where he recieved radiation and 3F8 monocol antibodies every 3 weeks from October 2005 through February 2006, then he was put on a program where he recieved treatments every 8 weeks through November 2007. Dawson recieved 14 antibody treatments with no hama. We ask God and you to keep Dawson in your prayers. Large numbers can do great things. After great results from Dawson's scans in October 2008, Dr.Kushner of Sloan Kettering said that Dawson no longer needed to return for scans, they felt that the radiation from all scans may do more harm than not. He is to periodically follow up with urine, VMA and bloodwork, all in which can be done from home. We are scheduled to see the Long-term care specialist at Sloan in April 2009, a day we long awaited! Wahoooooooo! Dawson is so happy that he will not have I.V.'s anymore! God is GREAT!! We are truly blessed with Dawson.
Journal
Monday, April 13, 2009 2:43 PM CDT I have created a new website for Dawson, please visit our new site at www.caringbridge.org/visit/dawsondecap
The new site will enable me to update much easier and will send you a message when we have updated. Thanks and please come visit Dawson's new site.
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