Update on Ambassador Pietro: Conquering Cancer, Conquering Mountains [PHOTO ESSAY]
2011 Ambassador Pietro when he was in treatment for brain cancer.
Now in remission, Pietro is in high school and continues to excel academically while keeping busy with extracurricular activities, including robotics, band, and the debate team. He’ll be learning to drive soon, much to the relief of his parents, who currently shuttle him to and from activities.
Despite all his accomplishments, childhood cancer and its treatments were not without their consequences. Pietro often felt tired, and the persistent fatigue prevented him from participating in one of his favorite activities: skiing.
Life After Chemo: Hope, Faith, and Big Steps
After Abby completed treatment for childhood cancer, her mom had to adjust to a new “normal.”
What do we do now?
Abby was diagnosed with Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an aggressive form of childhood cancer, when she was 4.
After doing that daily — along with a whole host of different treatments — for the last 32 months, it’s scary to stop.
We are extremely thankful for what we have and that we still have Abby here with us. But to say that we are celebrating every day isn’t true. At times I find myself holding my breath and waiting.
Every time I hear her coughing or complaining of something, my mind goes all over the place. For the past almost-three years, it’s never been just a cold; it was usually pneumonia. It never was just a tummy ache; it was C. diff, rotavirus, typhlitis, you name it. And now, without the safety net of chemo, is it the dreaded “R-word” — relapse?
Seeing Christmas in a New Light
After childhood cancer took Matthias’ sight, Christmas changed forever.
Cancer changed us in many ways; sometimes I don’t even recognize our lives anymore. Many of these changes aren’t bad — we have a deeper respect for life, an appreciation of health, and a conscious enjoyment of every moment with loved ones.Some of the changes were difficult, and we’ve accepted them. Even the way we celebrate holidays has changed.
I’ve always enjoyed Christmas, and having children makes this time of year even more magical. In 2008, we were excited to celebrate Matthias’ first Christmas, along with Magnus, who was 2 at the time, and just starting to participate in all of the excitement of the season.
Send a Holiday E-Card and Give the Gift of Childhood Cancer Research
Send a gift to someone you love! (Or someone you sorta like.) Send a holiday e-card!
To send an e-card:
- Go to www.stbaldricks.org/moments-like-this
- Click the green “Give A Donation” button
- (optional) To have your gift benefit a St. Baldrick’s participant, click “Choose an Event, Participant, Team, or Fundraiser” at the top of the page
- Complete the form to make a donation and click “Submit Your Donation”
- Complete your e-card and click “Send”
That’s it! Your gift recipient will get your e-card in their email inbox, letting them know that you gave them the gift of childhood cancer research.
Sarah’s Story: Thank You for Giving to Childhood Cancer Research
Sarah gives hope and thanks after fighting cancer for the second time. You can give hope to kids with cancer, too. Fund Research
Sarah was diagnosed with biphenotypic leukemia — a rare combination of both acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia — at the age of 14, enduring 20 months of chemotherapy. In 2008, she celebrated five years in remission.Then a checkup in June 2010 revealed that the leukemia had returned. Sarah’s only hope for a cure was a stem cell transplant.
“There’s no easy way to say what it’s like being a young adult with cancer … it’s harder than you can imagine,” Sarah says. “The physical and emotional tolls were just awful and for the longest time, I couldn’t remember feeling well. I had a lot of pain, nausea, and was so weak I couldn’t do even the simplest of things.”
A Moment of Peace and Gratitude With Song
Matthias was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer of the eye, when he was an infant.
Matthias never took a pacifier. He had a wicked gag reflex, so we had to find other ways to soothe him. Music became his pacifier, and we relied on it heavily.
Choosing to Smile and Remembering Ty, One Year Later
My son Ty died of a brain tumor one year ago.
Cindy Campbell with her son, Ty.
Despite all of this, when I asked him what he wanted to do when he was all better, his answer was simple: “I’m gonna jump in a muddy puddle!”
We Had a Choice: Abby’s Fight Against Ph+ Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
“Your child has cancer.”
When Abby was 4, she was diagnosed with Ph+ ALL, a rare and aggressive form of childhood cancer.
“What do we do now?” began on February 16, 2011, but it didn’t stop that day when our 4-year-old daughter, Abby, was diagnosed with pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
“Every child is different, every disease is different, but this is relatively good news,” explained the doctor. “ALL is one of the most common forms of leukemia, and great advances in treatment have been made.”
One week into chemotherapy treatment, Abby’s diagnosis got more complicated when we learned she had Philadelphia chromosome positive (Ph+) ALL, an aggressive subtype of leukemia. Our oncologists let us know that the recommended care would involve a bone marrow transplant.