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Way to go, Jakieboy!! 
Jake getting some smoke bombs ready on the
4th of July.
Welcome to Jacob's Web Page! Jacob is 11 years old and was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma of his skull (temporal bone)on Feb 1, 2003. In January of 2003, Jake started having mild headaches 2-3 times a week. We made an appointment with our pediatrician and he sent us for an MRI (thanks Dr. Harrison!). The MRI showed a lemon size tumor in his head, smashing his cerebellum. Jake's tumor was hypervascular - there was no way to biopsy it and there were doubts that it could be removed surgically without Jake bleeding to death. With the work of our neurosurgeon, Dr. Hellbusch, consulting docs around the country, it was decided to do an Embolization Surgery and then try and remove the tumor. At that time the consensus was that his tumor was probably a benign brain tumor with the small possiblity of it being a sarcoma. After the Embolization surgery done at the University of Iowa by Dr. Chaloupka, we were ambulanced back to Omaha Children's Hospital where Jake's tumor was almost completely removed in a miracle surgery in which he lost 8 units of blood (about 3 times his total blood volume) on January 28th. Once the tumor was removed, our greatest fear was realized when pathology showed the tumor to be Ewing's Sarcoma - a highly malignant bone tumor that rarely occurs in the skull. Jake completed 14 rounds of chemotherapy (at Children's) and 5 and a half weeks of radiation (IMRT - at the Univ. Of Nebraska Medical Center) in which he suffered a 3rd degree burn. His treatment ended in December of 2003. During his routine scans done on Sept 22nd, 2005 evidence of new tumor was seen, and Jake had a mastoidectomy to determine what the abnormality was. Thankfully, pathology reports showed it to be scar tissue from radiation! Scans done in December 2007 showed no evidence of disease and expected post surgical and radiation abnormalities. We will do scans again in June of 2008. Jake has permanent hair loss from radiation and some trouble with walking and running from the chemo, but overall he is doing great! We have received such unbelievable help and support from so many - thank you - you are a huge part of why Jake is doing so well!
Love, Steve (Dad), Kellie (Mom), Brandon (9 year old brother), Benny (4 year old Brother) and the amazing
Jacob Beresh! :~)
Other children dear to our hearts (More site listed below under links):
Angel Lizzie (1992-2006) Hepatablastoma
Joshua Larson (7) with relapsed Pleuropulmonary Blastoma-now back in remission!!!
Angel Tanner(1998-2007)Ewing's Sarcoma
Angel Brant (1998-2005) Ependymoma.
Angel Benjamin (1997-2005) Medulloblastoma
Journal
Monday, July 7, 2008 3:57 PM CDT ***UPDATE July 15th - You can see pics of Jake and many of the other little friends you may follow here on these websites at Camp CoHoLo by going to www.campcoholo.com. Go to the picture gallery. Jake is in group 6. Looks like he is having a great time! Camp CoHoLo always welcomes volunteers and donations. This camp is only $15 for the campers or free if they can't afford that. It's an amazing place where the docs, nurses and staff give their time and talent to provide medical care for these kids so they can go to camp like regular kids. Many of the camp couselors are childhood cancer survivors themselves. For Jake it means going to camp and no one saying a word about his scars or his funny hairdo and having fun with his clinic buddies outside of the hospital. That stuff is priceless! We sure do miss him and can't wait to go get him tomorrow morning! ***
Hello! New pics are up. Thanks, Jeff, for helping me with these! Hope you all had a fun 4th of July! Being that is it a fave Beresh Boy holiday, we had a great time. Lots of family, friends, food and of course, fireworks. We also got out to the lake a little and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The high on the 4th of July was 82! We have had the most fantastic June here in Omaha - minus all of the big storms we have had. Looks like the heat and humidity are here now, though.
The boys are all good. We love having Jake's scans out of the way, and love that we have hit the 4 and a half year mark of being cancer free! It seems hard to imagine that we only have one more scan left (December). When treatment ended and these scans began, I don't think we even let ourselves think of being at this point in fear that it might not happen. It sure does feel good. Of course it also makes us feel for the many friends that we have lost along the way in this journey. Too many little friends gone too soon.
No big plans the rest of the summer. Steve is busy at work. I have been helping my brother some with his real estate business and that has been a lot of fun. Jake and Brandon are doing a golf league and they play once a week for the next couple of weeks. They both really like it. Brandon's baseball ended last week. His team got 2nd place, so they did really well. Jake has some more baseball to play this month as all the rain we have had this summer really put a wrench in the schedule. He will also go to Camp CoHoLo this weekend. This is his last year for the younger kids session. He is so anxious to go and has already started packing! School starts on August 13th.
Thankfully that is all I have to report!
Please remember to give blood. I heard that the Red Cross is at critically low levels because of the all the storms and flooding around here. Also, please keep all the kids fighting cancer and all the families of cancer angels in your prayers. Thanks for coming by and checking in on us!
Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Benny
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Home!!!
Omaha, Nebraska
Links: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahknudsen Strong Hannah Knudsen fighting relapsed Ewing's.
http://www.caringbridge.org/ne/haleygirl Sweet Angel Haley who fought bravely against Wilm's Tumor.
http://www.caringbridge.org/ne/blakepelster Sweet little guy from North Platte, NE fighting relapsed Leukemia (ALL)
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