In honor of Reese and all of the children and families battling this awful disease, I am shaving my head to raise money for childhood cancer research! Having gone through the experience of having a child with cancer, I never want any family to deal with that! We need to put an end to this disease. Did you know that kids' cancers are different from adult cancers? It's true. And childhood cancer research is extremely underfunded. So I decided to do something about it by raising money for cures. Only 4% of federal funds go to Pediatric cancer.
Here is my story-
Our 3 1/2 year old daughter Reese recently became a big sister and was overjoyed, bursting with excitement. In early October 2016, our world came crashing down when our active swimmer and gymnast woke up with excruciating stomach pain. My wife immediately took her to the ER and noticed that she was having trouble walking. On October 6, 2016, Reese was admitted to Yale New Haven’s Children Hospital in Connecticut where we heard the devastating news that our baby had a tumor that was compressing her spinal cord and impairing neurological function. Before we knew it, that evening, we were signing releases to approve an emergency laminectomy, which is a four hour procedure to release pressure off of the spinal cord. Without this immediate surgery, we were told that Reese would have permanent neurological damage, which would impact her ability to walk. The surgery was a success. This was phase 1. The next phase was to address the large tumor that still existed, which was wrapped 270 degrees around her Aorta and was also growing on the Dura Mater, which is the lining which protects the spinal cavity.
After many tests and procedures, she was diagnosed with immediate risk Stage 3 Ganglioneuroblastoma - a type of neuroblastoma, which is an extremely rare childhood cancer, where only 700 new cases are diagnosed in the United States per year. Reese started chemotherapy immediately and finished two rounds of treatment. As we expected, the treatment did not do much to shrink the tumor due to the tumor’s biological make-up, so Reese had to undergo an extremely risky 7 hour tumor resection surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering in Manhattan. The world-renowned surgeons that performed the operation were very aggressive and removed what they saw to the naked eye, but we won’t know how successful the surgery was until she has a follow up MRI. We are hoping for the best, but we have also been told by the doctors that due to the risky location of the tumor around the spine, there may still be some remaining. The protocol is to perform scans every 3 months and monitor.
This has been not only a taxing journey on Reese, but on her parents. As parents, we always worry, but this magnifies the situation. This experience has opened many doors to the unbelievable organizations that exists, such as St. Baldrick’s. As I have stated, Pediatric cancer is severely underfunded at the Federal level. Only 4 cents of every dollar goes to Pediatric cancer.
Please continue to keep Reese in your thoughts and prayers as she fights on and leaves cancer in the dust! Your donations will be going straight to Pediatric cancer research and Reese is living proof that the increases in medicine and research from year to year help provide quality of life for children that really deserve it! #Reeseystrong!
Now I need your help! Will you make a donation? Every dollar makes a difference for the thousands of infants, children, teens, and young adults fighting childhood cancers.