Honored Kid

Makayla M.

Age 17
Makayla M. Kid Photo

Location

Mastic Beach, NY, US

Diagnosis

Hepatoblastoma

Date of Diagnosis

February 2009

Status

In remission

Treated At

Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York-Presbyterian

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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. Makayla was diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma Stage 4 on February 8th, 2009. She had a tumor on her liver the size of an orange & both lungs filled with tiny & clusters of tumors. At time of diagnosis the doctors only gave Makayla an 18% chance to live. It was the worst day of my life hearing the doctors say she may not make it through this....something a parent never wants to hear! Treatments started immediately! It was a long rough road watching her suffer & not being able to do anything! More bad news came when they said lungs are not getting better after trying 2 other treatments and after this last round all chemo had to stop because the tumor in her liver was shrinking but it was shrinking around the main artery and would eventually cut off breathing, blood flow everything! Well Makayla turned out to be their miracle & mine! She was and is still such a fighter! At the end of the last treatment scans showed tumors were gone except for a 2 inch tumor in right lung! So they decided to do a lung resection and remove it , which led to Makayla receiving a liver transplant! My baby girl is now in remission 4 years! She is left with a lot of side effects from chemo but she is here! It's always going to be a long rough road due to the immunosuppression, neuropathy, etc... But she truly is my hero, she is one tough kid and a fighter beyond belief!

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