Family and Friends,

 

My niece, Katie, is fighting a battle with a rare and very serious bone cancer called osteosarcoma. She was diagnosed in early June of this year a few weeks before her 10th birthday. Instead of the big birthday celebration we had planned, Katie was in the hospital receiving her first round of chemotherapy. On September 9, following 10 rounds of chemotherapy, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor from her right leg. The procedure, called rotationplasty, is a type of amputation. While waiting to resume the start of her additional 12 chemotherapy treatments, the family learned that Katie’s cancer did not respond well to the treatments she had received prior to surgery. Her doctor has submitted an authorization request to her insurance for a different regimen of drugs but is having difficulty obtaining approval. Meanwhile her treatment is delayed, and her cancer is unchecked! It is critical that she resume her treatment without further delay.

 

Katie’s family is asking for financial support to help fund her many urgent needs so that she can succeed in beating her cancer and having a chance to recapture her childhood. She absolutely needs her doctors to be able to try different drugs until they find what works. Also, Katie will require a prosthesis so that she can walk without needing a wheelchair and walker. When she is cleared by her surgeon, she will be fitted for a prosthetic and start physical therapy. As she grows, she will need additional prosthetic replacements as well as months of physical therapy. Your donation, no matter the size, will go a long way in giving Katie and her family some relief from the many burdens that come with this beast of a disease that robs so much of the joy of being a kid, running and playing with friends, attending school, feeling well enough to participate in family outings and meals together. The list is endless, sad and heartbreaking. Thank you for reading our family’s story and for helping lift our spirits. We are forever grateful!