I'm raising money for childhood cancer research! 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.
This year, I have a very brave first grader in my classroom. His name is Mahdi and he is a cancer survivor. Mahdi was 2 1/2 when he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive tumor above his right eye. It started when his family started noticing that sometimes his right eye would cross or his eyelid looked a little droopy. His family took him to the eye doctor and with an MRI, they found that there was a mass above his right eye.
They were then referred to a specialist who at first thought that the tumor was a benign. It was agreed that they would monitor it and see if any changes would occur. After a week or two, his eye wasn't getting any better and after consulting with another doctor, a biopsy was done. It was then confirmed that it was malignant and he would have to have chemo and radiation.
July 4th of 2012, Mahdi had his chemo port placed and had his first round of chemo. For a whole year after that, Mahdi had a round of chemo every Monday and had 25 rounds of radiation over the course of 5 weeks. He had his last round of chemo June of 2013. All though he has some vision loss in that eye, he is slowly regaining it back. Now, he is a healthy 7 year old! In June, he will be 4 years cancer free!
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.