In August of 2009, two days before our family vacation our beautiful Princess Brooke (age 2 ½ at the time) began complaining off and on of a tummy ache. In the next 48 hours this progressed to severe stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. After several trips to the pediatrician and no improvement, we were sent to the emergency room for dehydration and suspicion of intussusception (twisting of the bowels), but the ultrasound and CT scan revealed something much worse, a tumor.
She was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer. After a few weeks in the hospital with Brooke bravely undergoing multiple scans, tests, a 6 ½ hour surgery, and a few miracles, she had no evidence of Neuroblastoma. She had an amazing surgeon who was able to remove the entire potato sized tumor and prevent her from having to endure chemotherapy. Her stomach problems that brought us there were determined to be unrelated and just a very bad stomach virus. Today Brooke leads a mostly normal life of a 7 year old. She is in 2nd grade, loves dance, swiming, cheerleading, bossing her little brother and sister around, spending time on art work, reading and helping mom and dad. Every 6 months she gets a monitoring scan and lab work done. This type of monitoring will continue for the coming years. 4 1/2 years after surgery she has No Evidence of Disease! We are so blessed to have our sweet girl healthy and back to her bubbly self. We believe our family went through this experience for a reason and are dedicated to helping other children and families battling cancer. Thank you for helping us bring awareness to childhood cancer and support to all those still battling!
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