Honored Kid

Calleigh S.

Age 16
Calleigh S. Kid Photo

Location

Sun City, CA, US

Diagnosis

Brain or spinal cord tumor

Date of Diagnosis

January 2009

Status

Cancer-free

Treated At

Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center Children's Hospital Los Angeles Miller Children's Hospital

Change your kid's logo

My Story

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. Calleigh was diagnosed with a RARE brain tumor, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, in Jan 2009. She had fallen off her growth chart and had occasional vomiting some mornings but was otherwise happy and healthy. We were blessed that after a hospitalization for re-hydration due to the flu, the incredible doctors at Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center decided to look further into her continued vomiting. After a week in the hospital and numerous tests and MRI was ordered. We were devastated to learn that Calleigh had a brain tumor on her brain stem. Surgery was scheduled for a few days later and it was successful. The rareness of the tumor led the doctors to request multiple pathologies, but all confirmed Choroid Plexus Carcinoma. There was not a specific protocol for treatment, but one doctor at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Dr. Jonathan Findlay, had experience with this disease and gave us an option that would eliminate radiation to reduce the long term affects of treatment on Calleigh's rapidly growing 15 month old brain. Still, other doctors only gave her a 60% chance of living 5 more years and very little information on what her quality of life would be. We were informed at the very least she would have hearing loss due to the high doses of chemotherapy. Calleigh had 6 rounds of high dose chemo and a stem cell transplant. She laughed and danced through everything and had us running after her in the hospital hallways with her IV poll. She was last discharged from the hospital September 10, 2009, almost two weeks before her 2nd birthday. Today, Calleigh is 6 years old and 5 years cancer free! She is one of the best readers in her class and has had no long term side effects. She even has perfect hearing (when she wants to)! We hope that your support of St. Baldricks will help treatments for all children diagnosed with cancer get the best treatment possible and have outcomes like Calleigh.

The Childhood Cancer Ripple Effect

Help Give Kids a Lifetime

Infants, children, teens and young adults are depending on us to find cures for childhood cancers — and to give survivors long and healthy lives.

Support lifesaving childhood cancer research today.

Photo submission policy

Please read the photo submission policy and accept below.

By submitting a photograph of yourself on www.StBaldricks.org, you agree to the following terms and conditions for submission of your photograph:

We strongly encourage all users to submit a before and after photo, so that donors and fellow participants can easily recognize and relate to one another.

Any photo containing cartoons, comics, celebrities, nudity, pornography, sexually explicit images or any copyrighted image (unless you own the copyright) is not permitted. This is because photos of celebrities and cartoon or comic images are generally copyrighted by the owner.

Uploading images of other people without their permission is also prohibited.

This photo submission policy applies to StBaldricks.org users. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation reserves the right to review all photos and to remove any photo for any reason at our sole discretion. If you see a photo on StBaldricks.org that you believe does not conform to this policy, email to WebQuestions@StBaldricks.org