Survivor Amelia

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 eight 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 eight 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.

Journal

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 8:31 AM CDT

I'm always happy to discover a child's webpage that is current. I appreciate the continuance of the story, happy or sad. I crave for something I can identify with. I long for the community of survivorship. I am terrible at updating.

Amelia and I just returned from a regular follow-up appointment at Sloan-Kettering in New York City. We left Annapolis two days after her eleventh birthday so that we could attend the Kid's Walk for Kids with Cancer in Central Park for the first time. It was overcast and comfortable and full of young people, many middle and high school students. We found fellow patients and survivors as well as some of the top doctors of neuroblastoma treatment. Not far into the walk Amelia began to feel uncomfortable and wanted to take a stray path up a hill. We discovered a grassy field of clover and trees and she searched in vain for a four-leafed clover. We followed a path down to a pond where people were gathered around the first sighting of the Yellow Warbler. We climbed rocks and followed paths all over the place. It was more of a private walk for Kid's with Cancer but it was our way of embracing the day.

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

Johns Hopkins Children's Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Links:

E-mail Author: ahantske@comcast.net

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