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Dolphin Kisses in Cozumel 
Amelia Hantske was born in Annapolis, Maryland in May of 2002, a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby girl. When she was ten months old we found a bump on the top of her head. Little did we know that it was only the tip of the iceberg.
Upon examination, Amelia’s pediatrician found that she was severely anemic and that her abdomen was enlarged. We were sent immediately to Johns Hopkins Pediatric Emergency where a team of doctors examined Amelia and ran a barrage of tests ultimately finding three tumors. They found one on her head, one consuming her right ovary, and the primary tumor in her abdomen by her left kidney. After surgery to remove the first two tumors and a biopsy of the primary tumor Amelia was diagnosed with stage IV, n-myc amplified, high risk, neuroblastoma, an often-deadly children’s cancer of the sympathetic nervous system.
Amelia followed the Sloan-Kettering N7 protocol at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. She was hospitalized three out of every four weeks for six months. She had six rounds of high-dose chemotherapy, a complete resection of the primary tumor and a stem-cell transplant September 2003. Then she traveled to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for twelve rounds of radiation therapy and ten months of 3F8 antibody immunotherapy.
Amelia is six now and has been free of disease since August 2003. The late-effects of her cancer treatment are mild compared to most. She has high frequency hearing loss, weak malformed teeth, and is very short for her age.
It has been almost six years since her diagnosis and we are eternally grateful for her health and the many doctors and nurses who have worked so hard to provide her the best treatment and care. We continue to live with the knowledge that this beast, neuroblastoma, could still be lurking in our lives, so we quietly live each day to the fullest. Children’s cancer affects whole families. It shows no mercy. We need to find a cure.
Please help us in our fight to conquer neuroblastoma. Please visit some of the sites below and find out how you can help save a child's life.
Journal
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 6:56 PM CST Amelia enjoyed her visit with the doctors at Johns Hopkins last week even though she couldn't remember the place very well. I guess that's good, right? She was sweet and friendly and completely unaware of any of my real concerns. After a nice exam with Kathy Ruble, the long-term follow-up nurse, we were sent for a few chest x-rays to confirm a osteochondroma on her rib. She behaved like the veteran that she is and amazed the radiology staff in the process. When we returned to the clinic Dr. Loeb was there and waiting to see and touch Amelia too. She gave him chocolate and a hug and made him laugh. He shared some of her war story with a fellow in the room who really enjoyed seeing what a real survivor looked like. It was so nice to see our old friend Dr. Loeb. I think the feeling was mutual.
The official news is that there was nothing to see on the x-ray. Nothing at all. It was as if the bump wasn't there. What? Dr. Loeb even brought her films to the weekly sarcoma conference for those radiologists to look over them. Nothing. They are telling me that the bump appears to be just a normal part of architecture of the bone. Huh? Okay. So the plan is to ignore it as long as it doesn't do any growing or hurting or anything and to just pretend that it isn't there. That's going to be really easy for me. Right!
I was so happy to find that this bump could be nothing more than a late-effect but then felt sad because it was going to be another one of those things that Amelia would have to put in her backpack for life. Now I'm just confused as to how I feel. I don't like having to watch or ignore anything on her. It makes me half crazy. I am thankful that I scheduled a long-term follow-up appointment with Dr. Sklar while we're in NY for the NB Team Reunion in April. If there is any further change to this little lump we will be able to discuss it with another team of experts. Hopefully it will only be something for the record and nothing else. I am just going to have to have faith.
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Johns Hopkins Children's Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Links: http://www.lunchforlife.org Lunch For Life is an organization that raises money for Neuroblastoma research. We are fully aware that relapse can happen at any time and frequently does for children with Neuroblastoma. Therefore, we need to help find a cure. You can help too, one Lunch at a time.
http://www.rmdh.org/ The Ronald McDonald House of New York
http://bandofparents.org This is a group of parents whose children have been diagnosed with NB who have banded together to support exciting new research by the MSKCC team! Check out the BOP Shop and Cookie Sale.
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