Brielle has an amazing smile and is a beautiful girl. She loves her siblings so much!
We were at home on the night of 1/18/18 and she fell down, forward on the ground, within minutes of that she stared losing consciousness. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. They released her that night believing she just had a concussion form the fall. She did not seem fine to us and all night cried and needed to be held. We brought her back to hospital the following morning. It was then they discovered she had a tumor on her liver and it was bleeding. She was given blood transfusions and rushed to another hospital for surgery to stop the source of bleeding, the following morning her blood work came back which indicated the tumor was Hepatoblastoma cancer.
She went through 6 rounds of chemo. She had the surgery to stop the ruptured tumor from bleeding. Two days after that she had a surgery to place a port and attempted surgery to resect tumor which was unsuccessful because the tumor was too close to portal artery. She then had 3 of her 6 rounds of chemo. Then she had surgery to remove the tumor and her gall bladder. She then finished up 3 more rounds of clean up chemo.
The struggles we face as a family is adjusting back to life after this, it’s not like you just step back in your old life. It’s different now, our world has been shaken. Our fighter is a twin and has an older brother. We spent a lot of time separated as a family. A lot of our time was focused on our fighter which impacted our other children’s needs. We have the worry of relapse hanging over us. During her chemo we didn’t spend much time outside of the house due to her being immune compromised so we didn’t have a lot of family time enjoying life.
McKenzie was born January 20, 2016 – almost three months early. She was 1 pound 11 ounces and spent 97 days in the NICU before finally going home. She, and her parents Ashley and Ryan, have been fighting every day since her birth for her to thrive. McKenzie has had a feeding tube her whole life as she hasn’t been able to eat well enough on her own to get all the nutrients she needs. Her early birth also set her up for numerous developmental challenges, putting her three months behind her peers, and she still remains a “peanut” looking more like a 9-month-old at 16 pounds than an 18-month-old.
Despite these challenges, McKenzie, Ashley and Ryan have taken everything in stride, rising to meet every challenge and overcome it. Then in March 2017, McKenzie’s bubbly, energetic personality started to change. They saw her doctors and they quickly had a diagnosis – liver cancer. A 11 cm hepatoblastoma to be exact. A “one in one million” cancer that affects premature babies more than the general population.
McKenzie started chemo May 2017 and traveled to Tennessee in mid-August 2017 for a consultation and surgery with a doctor who specializes in pediatric hepatoblastoma at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
McKenzie has continued to overcome all obstacles and is enjoying life to the fullest now as a healthy 2 year old.
Makinley is the most fun loving little girl we know. She loves to make jokes and has great comebacks. She loves anything and everything rainbow. She plays soccer on a team and she is really good! She’s also a wonderful big sister. We couldn’t be more proud to call her our daughter.
On August 20th 2013, at just 2 months old, Makinley was diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma. There were no obvious symptoms at that time but the pediatrician felt a tumor on her liver at a routine well baby check up.
Makinley had to have 7 total rounds of chemotherapy and received a liver transplant at just 8 months old. She has to get routine labs and scans to ensure that everything is okay with her transplanted liver and we have to be careful that she doesn’t get sick since she is on antirejection medications that weaken her immune system.
Makinley has been through so much but she is such a helpful and caring girl. She wants to be part of anything to help other fighters like her.
My Sara is a loveable, happy goof. She loves to sing, dance, and run. She loves Star Wars villains and Care Bears. She loves to laugh, bubbles and music really bring out her giggles. The Trolls soundtrack is her current favorite.
At the end of March 2015, our beautiful 10 month old was diagnosed with cancer. Hepatoblastoma, a solid tumor of the liver. Sara was completely asymptomatic, her pediatrician found her spleen to be “slightly swollen” and he had imaging done to be sure, and “spots” were discovered on her liver.
Pediatric liver cancer is the rarest of all pediatric cancers, accounting for only 1% of all cases. Thankfully, the cancer was contained within the liver. However, because of cirrhosis, resection is not an option, and Sara needed a liver transplant. Before her transplant, Sara had tons of imaging, bloodwork, biopsies, port insertion, 9 cycles of chemo, an allergic reaction to a chemo drug resulting in anaphylaxis, and many, many, many hospitalizations. We feared she was rejecting her liver transplant and had to go through two rejection episodes, liver infection, and the fear of rejecting her graft.
Childhood cancer has totally changed our entire lives. Our “normal” life now is scheduling everything around Sara’s medical needs. I have three older children, 23, 21, and 16, and while the two older kids live on their own, my 16 year old son was exposed to the realities of chemo. He had to handle some very adult realities. I am unable to work, and we survive because of my parents. Sara was only 10 months old when she was diagnosed and 18 months old at the time of her transplant. She has never known anything other than this life, which is sad, but also a small relief. She no shows no evidence of disease (NED)!
Shortly after turning 2, Anastasia wasn’t feeling well. She wasn’t eating and playing like she used to. I sensed something was wrong and took her to the doctor. I was told that she had an ear infection, was given antibiotics and sent home.
However, a few days later she was still not feeling well. At this same time we noticed a lump on her belly. This time her Daddy took her to the doctor and insisted that the lump on her belly be examined. The doctors performed an ultrasound. A mass was found on her liver. Doctors immediately sent us to Sutter Children’s Hospital in Sacramento. Later that day, on November 23rd she was diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma. This is a rare type of cancer that is in the liver and affects children from infancy to 5 years old. This type of cancer counts for less than 1 % of childhoods cancers.
As you can imagine, her diagnosis blindsided us. This is the very last thing I thought would happen. To hear that your child has cancer is devastating. It took a few days for us to really accept that she had cancer. Within a week she had a biopsy and her broviac catheter placed. The biopsy confirmed that it was Hepatoblastoma. Soon after that she started treatment.
The treatment plan for this type of cancer is extremely aggressive. She was given two different type of chemotherapy drugs. The side effects were awful. She suffered from Neutropenia, fevers, painful mouth sores, and pain all over her body. She stopped talking and due to pain she eventually stopped walking and wanted to be carried everywhere. Our lives were turned upside down and inside out. Her first hospital stay was from November 23rd to Christmas Eve. She did get to spend Christmas at home.
There were a lot of dark, painful days and as her mother there was nothing that I could do to take that away. There are days, even to this day, that I would trade places with her in a heartbeat but this is her journey, our journey that we have endured.
Daddy and I would trade off staying with her in the hospital. On days where we were exhausted Grandma would come and stay with Anastasia. She was never in the hospital by herself. Anastasia has a twin brother, Dylan and older brother Ben. They were affected as well. They would come to visit at the hospital but hospitals aren’t for healthy children because all they wanted to do was play and run up and down the halls! Their visits would bring a smile to Anastasia.
In April, she had her tumor removed it was like her health took a turn for the better. It was a miracle to see her smile and light up. She slowly started talking more and eventually started walking. She had two more chemotherapy sessions after the tumor was removed. After each of these sessions she seemed to feel better and would light up the hospital room with chit chat, walk the halls with ease, and want to play with toys in the toy room.
She finished treatment in June. Scans were clear and the tumor marker in her blood was at normal. We could not think of a better way to capture this time than in these photos. They show a survivor. A little girl who endured a lot, but can now smile and show who she really is.
