Thank you for supporting me and the more than 300,000 kids worldwide who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. By sharing the gifts of your time, talent and money with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, you're supporting research to give all kids with cancer a better chance for a cure.
Our daughter Karis was diagnosed in November 2012 with a form of brain cancer called medulloblastoma. Things all started around October 15th, 2012. Karis woke up one morning saying her tummy hurt then rushed to the bathroom and got sick. She thought she was hungry so we fixed her some breakfast, but decided to keep her home from school thinking it was viral. After about a week of random vomiting, we took her to see her pediatrician. They felt it was viral and should get better soon and sent us home with some Zofran. Little did we know this would be her best friend for many weeks to come. Karis continued to have vomiting (her only symptom) for the next few weeks and it was getting to the point she couldn't keep anything down. Several tests were done over this time to rule out anything GI related. Everything came back normal. On November 13th, Karis was admitted to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City. A CT scan that night revealed a mass at the base of her brain in the posterior fossa. It just had to be a cyst, right? She was to get a MRI of the brain and spine the next day. Karis couldn’t eat or drink anything until it was complete, but was so hungry. She ordered chicken noodle soup and ice-cream to have once she got back to her room. Unfortunately she never made it back to her room. When Kyle went to gather all our things, her little tray was sitting there ready. Karis had started having life threatening heart arrhythmias while undergoing the MRI and had to be intubated then moved to the PICU. The tumor was wreaking all kinds of havoc. Pressure was building up in her brain and a drain was placed through her skull to help with the CSF. Then we got the news that not only was there one tumor, there were 2 more. We will never forget the way we felt at that exact moment. Cold all over, nauseous, sick with fear and disbelief. On November 16th, Karis had her first surgery to remove the posterior fossa tumor. She recovered really well. At first she had some left sided weakness and swallowing difficulty, but quickly worked through it. The decision was made to do 2 rounds of high dose chemo before removing the tumor in the front. The other tumor was much smaller and located in the middle of her brain where they couldn’t operate. Then on January 17th, one day after her 6th birthday, she had her 2nd brain surgery, a craniotomy. Again she recovered well. She started radiation therapy on February 11th and had a total of 30 treatments to her brain and spine. Radiation was the toughest treatment for her. She was so tired, her throat hurt, more nausea and vomiting, no appetite and severe skin burns to her back. She lost a lot of weight and eventually a feeding tube was placed to ensure she got the necessary nutrition. After radiation, another MRI was done showing a good response to all the treatments so far. Things were stable and there was minimal cancer remaining. She completed her 6th round of maintenance chemo in October of 2013, consisting of Vincristine, Cisplatin and Cytoxin. She became septic after her first round where she ended up in the PICU with multiple antibiotics and a chest tube. Karis remained in the hospital for 2 weeks causing her to miss her last days of Kindergarten. Since she was on a standard treatment plan, we were able to transfer her care to Stormont Vail in Topeka, KS where we live. Karis became septic again after her last round, but not as severe as the first time cause her WBC's were rebounding when she got sick. She came close to getting a g-tube, but I'm happy to say her eating improved and she slowly began to gain weight. After 2 brain surgeries, a total of 8 rounds of high dose chemo, multiple lab draws, hospitalizations, blood and platelet transusions, Karis was given the news shortly after her MRI on Oct. 21st, 2013 that she was cancer free! Although she suffers from many side effects (hair loss, cognitive delays, motor skills, etc.), she continues to do great and has an amazing attitude and outlook on everything. She would write herself little notes saying "I will be cancer free" and now she is. We pray daily for Karis to remain cancer free and for no recurrence cause that's a huge risk with this type of cancer. However, we can't live our lives in fear of what may happen, but just keep our faith strong, trust in God and enjoy each day with each other the best we can. We are very grateful for all the outpouring of prayers and support from friends and family. Please share her story, pray for her healing and to remain cancer free. She is a fighter! You can follow her journey on her Facebook page Hope for Karis. Thank you for reading her story and God bless you.
