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Ida’s Story

Site created on February 23, 2006

Welcome! Thanks for continuing to check in on Ida as she gets closer and closer to remission.
AFP February 2012 - 5.0!!
Next AFP - ONE YEAR!!

Ida was diagnosed at 13 months old with Stage IV Hepatoblastoma... 7 years ago. WOW, has she come a long way!

Ida was born on January 25, 2005, weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. Ida has always been a healthy little girl. She weighed 24 pounds at 8 months!! Ida has a big sister Sadie at home who is only 13 1/2 months older than her and loves her "sissy" so much.

On February 20, 2006, our lives were flipped upside down. Our daughter Ida, who had just turned one on January 25, 2006, was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood liver cancer called Hepatoblastoma. We were devastated when we found out that Ida’s cancer had already spread to her lungs (11 small tumors). Only 100-150 kids in North America are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year.

At diagnosis, Ida’s tumor marker, called the AFP, was 538,000. A normal AFP for a child her age is between 1 and 10. Ida underwent 6 total rounds of chemo (including cisplatin, doxorubicin, 5-FU and vincristine), liver re-section and lung re-section. Ida was admitted to the hospital 11 times between February and August. Ida was off of treatment from August through December as we patiently awaited a normal AFP. Ida’s AFP results have been as follows:

2/20/06 – 538,000

Chemo Round 1

3/16/06 – 155,400

Chemo Round 2

4/10/06 – 5,660

Chemo Round 3

4/23/06 – Infection

5/8/06 – 365

Chemo Round 4

5/26/06 – 201

6/5/06 – Liver Re-Section

6/20/06 – 99

Chemo Round 5

7/12/06 - Infection

7/12/06 – 66.7

7/27/06 – Lung Re-Section

7/31/06 – 49.2

8/10/06 – 37

Chemo Round 6 – End of Treatments!!

8/16/06 – 50.8

8/22/06 - Infection

9/6/06 – 73.5

9/19/06 – 23.2

10/4/06 – 50.9

10/19/06 – 35.1

11/1/06 - 85

11/14/06 - 97.9

11/27/06 - 92

12/4/06 - Upper Left Lobe of Lung Removed

12/7/06 - 39.3

12/12/06 - 25.5

12/19/06 - 11

12/26/06 - Start Chemo Round 1

1/15/07 - 16.8

1/15/07 - Start Chemo Round 2

1/25/07 - 15

2/5/07 - Start Chemo Round 3

2/5/07 - 9.5

2/15/07 - 16.8

2/26/07 - Start Chemo Round 4

2/26/07 - 15.2

3/19/07 - 14.2

3/26/07 - Start Chemo Round 5

3/26/07 - 13

4/16/07 - Start Chemo Round 6

4/16/07 - 18.5

5.4

14.6

33.7

12.5

12.5

16.6

16.7

10/10/07 - 9.4

20

11.6

14

9.5

5.3

On December 4, 2006, Ida had a second lung surgery. The biopsy showed that cancer cells were present. Ida began a new cycle of chemo between Christmas and New Year's. Her new chemo consists of Irinotecan and Vincristine and is done as an outpatient. Please pray that Ida is healed from this terrible disease.

There is a 30% chance that Ida will be cured of this disease and we know she will be part of that 30%!

There was really no way for us to know that Ida had this disease until we noticed a bulge (what we now know was a tumor) on her chest. It is possible that Ida has had this since birth. There are so many questions that can't be answered.

When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. Psalm 56:3-4

Newest Update

Journal entry by Melissa DeVries — Jun 1, 2023

Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 years since I've posted!! Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was posting on here non stop to keep everyone updated. Today, I post to celebrate. Ida has reached a milestone we never knew if she would reach or not. Last Friday, Ida graduated from high school. Not only did she graduate, but she had a 3.95 GPA several AP courses on her transcript. Ida will be attending the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in the fall where she was admitted to the College of Biomedical Sciences to pursue a degree in Microbiology and then possibly Pathology!

Ida's graduation party is next Saturday, June 10th at 3:00pm at our house in Beaver Dam. If you are in the area and would like to stop by, please feel free to do so! Or, if you'd like to mail her a card, that would be great too. Our address is:

112 Foxview Ct
Beaver Dam, WI 53916

As long as I'm on here, a quick update on the rest of us. Sadie just completed her first year at UW Madison and is pursuing a degree in nursing. I'd like to think Ida's history had a little influence on their career paths. Paul is the Director of Public Works in Fond du Lac and I will be starting a new job in July as the administrative assistant at Waterloo (WI) High School. I've been at Beaver Dam High School the past 7 years and feel truly blessed to have watched both my girls go through there.

Thank you to everyone for all of the support we received so many years ago. It will never be forgotten!

Love,
Melissa

Read More of the journal titled "Ida's High School Graduation"

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