Rosalie or as she likes to go by her middle name Genesis is a very kind, respectful young teen. Her personality is very unique she is always nice, willing to always help, she is always willing to help care for her young brother Dylan and Adriel. Her happiness is being surrounded by her family whether we go out to eat, shop, or just stay home and watch movies. She enjoys drawing, painting, riding bikes, rollerblading, dancing, singing and baking. She also is learning to play the piano, her favorite school subject is math. Her dream is to one day become an Oncologist to help find cures or treatments for rare types of cancers and help other kids like herself find a way to get better in hopes for them to be cancer-free.
Genesis was experiencing heavy menstrual periods for a couple of months between July-November of 2021 but it went unnoticed until symptoms got worse and she was losing consciousness. I immediately knew that passing out and losing consciousness was not normal, I took her to our primary pediatric doctor, who at the time treated her for heavy menstrual periods and anemia. She was prescribed birth control pills to help regularize her menstrual period and Iron pills to help level her anemia. As months went by her symptoms seemed to worsen, I started to get a gut feeling that this was not normal and that there was more to just heavy bleeding and low hemoglobin.
I then took her to the emergency room at Valley Children’s in Madera where they ran multiple tests to figure out what was causing the symptoms. At some point, they gave me multiple reasons and possible diagnoses but it was still very unclear. The attending doctor in the ER figured that by referring us to the hematology clinic we would get the answers we needed.
Right away in a matter of days, we got a call from the hematology team, they were very worried and they wanted to work fast to try to get to the bottom of all this. Two weeks later, we were scheduled for our first appointment with them, about a week or so after they scheduled her for a bone marrow biopsy. The results took about 4-6 weeks between those weeks she was seen twice a week to check up on blood levels.
On January 13, 2022, we got a call that the results from her bone marrow biopsy came back they suggested meeting with us that same day, and we got together to meet and go over her results. As the hematology doctor was reviewing the results she explained to me that they found out that she has a type of anemia called Fanconi Anemia, which is a rare disorder in the category of inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. Fanconi Anemia is associated with certain birth defects that lead to gradual bone marrow failure and higher chances of having some sort of cancer and other health problems.
That day as the doctor was explaining to us all the symptoms, etc.; Genesis started feeling very severe cramping, and the doctor asked if she felt like she needed to use the bathroom. As soon as she got up from the bed blood started to flow down her legs, the doctor called out for help, and a little later Genesis bled out severely to the point where she passed out and we had to start CPR. She had lost consciousness for about 15 minutes.
Shortly after she got transferred to the ER. After many hours of monitoring and multiple tests, she got moved to a unit. The attending doctor of the unit ordered CT Scans, EKG, Echo, and MRI to see what was causing her symptoms. As days went by January 18, 2022, I was given the devastating results that there was a massive mass laying on top of her cervix and metastasis of a small lesion to her left lung which required immediately a biopsy to determine if the mass was cancerous. January 20, 2022, the results indicated a rare type of cancer, and was recommended that she be referred over to UCSF for a second opinion and possible treatment options.
Despite all the struggles her cancer journey has put upon her she always has had the power to keep strong and most of all she has kept a smile on her face. She is a true fighter and for her giving up is not an option.
Hope session by Angela Eller Photography | Facebook | Instagram