Ian Korthals Ian K.

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.  Ians story began in November 2018.  He was complaining of back pain which we attributed to his gymnastics practices.  Muscle aches are not uncommon for gymnasts.  We tried everything to relieve the pain but nothing helped.  We went to see his pediatrician  on New Years eve.  He saw nothing unusual and referred us to a sports medicine doctor.  We went to that appoint on January 4th.  Again he saw nothing unusual and attributed it to a strained/torn muscle or a fracture of a vertebra.  The x-ray he took showed no fractures.  We scheduled physical therapy and also kept the option of an MRI on the table.  Ian's pain got worse so much so we took him to the emergency room on January 6.  Once there his pain subsided so of course the doctors could find nothing wrong.  WE scheduled an MRI and had that done on Wednesday, January 9th.  The sports medicine doctor called me that night and said it was neither a muscle nor a vertebra issue.  Instead Ian had a tissue growth near his spine.  I cannot tell you what hearing those words feels like.  It was as if everything inside of me melted. He referred us to an orthopedist at Children's Hospital.  The following day we met with the orthopedist and he confirmed that Ian had a tumor and that it was most likely cancerous.  We went home  and I think time stopped.   Now we needed to wait  for our appointment with the oncologist to find out what we were dealing with.  However during the day Ian's pain became so unbearable I took him to the emergency room at Children's and there we stayed for 11 days.  After a biopsy of his tumor the results came back as Neuroblstoma.   Neuroblastoma commonly starts in the adrenal glands which are located on and just above the kidneys.  One of his adrenal cells decided to not stop replicating and this is what has produced his tumor.  Our treatments will last from 12-18 months and will include variety of treatments.  He is starting with 4 months of chemotherapy,  then he will have surgery and radiation, then a bone marrow transplant and finally immunotherapy.  Each step will be described to us in more detail as we reach that point in his treatment plan.