One day out of the blue, Isabella complained about a stomach ache. I took her to the pediatrician and she had some tests. They confirmed she had a huge mass in her left kidney. The same day she was admitted to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. The next day, she had a lot of tests in preparation for surgery to remove her left kidney. A week after she started with radiation and chemotherapy. Before that she was not complaining of anything and didn’t show any symptom that make us worry about her health.
We received confirmation a few days after surgery it was Wilms Tumor stage IV. They started the protocol recommended for that and the first two chemotherapy rounds were very tough. She started feeling week and not normal at all. Then the major problem was her immune system, which was too low during all the treatment. She couldn’t have play dates, visit public places, attend kindergarten, etc. We managed by staying home or at the hospital and trying to do the best everyday.
This changed our lives since the moment we heard the words, “Your daughter has cancer.” The sentence nobody wants to hear. Nothing would be the same and now we needed to learn to live with that.
We are so grateful everyday. Isabella is now happy and has energy to do activities a healthy kid would do. She went back to school and attended first grade. She is also doing extra school activities she couldn’t participate in more than a year ago. She is currently in remission but needs to have a lot of follow up appointments with several specialists and tests every three months.
Hope session by Carol Porta Photography | Facebook