Atiyah's Story: Battling Cancer
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Our niece, Atiyah Falls is an optimistic and intelligent 11-year-old. She enjoys baseball, arts and crafts, and is in love with Lin Manuel Miranda and his play Hamilton. Her optimism is infectious, and she wants to be a nurse so that she can help people.
On Wednesday, June 20th Atiyah was practicing with her softball team the Oxford Lady Jackets. In her position as an outfield catcher, she often has softballs flying at her at full speed. About mid-way through practice a fly ball came her way, she missed and got hit in the leg. It was painful, but hey sometimes that happens in softball. She knew she had to take some time off to heal, but no big deal, right.
Well a week later she still had that pain in her leg. She had been to the doctor but was ensured that it was just a bad bruise and would soon go away. Only it wasn’t going away. It only got worse. The swelling began to spread and with that the pain grew more intense. At this point her mom realized that this was something unusual and that she needed to get a second opinion. Once they got to Children's Hospital (Alabama) they ran some test and discovered that it wasn’t just a bruise, but that there was a mass in her leg. From there, each day, the news just got worse. The mass turned out to be malignant; it was cancer. They ran more test and discovered that it had spread to her kidneys and lungs. Yet another round of test revealed that the cancer continued to spread and had reached her heart. At this point they had performed 10 surgeries on her leg to try to remove the mass, so as to avoid amputation. Thus far, nothing has been successful.
Finally, the official diagnosis came down. It was a rare and very aggressive type of cancer, termed NUT Midline Carcinoma. Atiyah is the first case of this type of cancer that the hospital has ever had and only 20 to 30 cases have been diagnosed in the whole of the United States. With this news, we knew the road ahead would be a rough one.
With the diagnosis, soon it would come time for Atiyah to start her chemotherapy. In any other case, they would be able to send her home and bring her back in, only for treatments and consultations. However, in addition to the cancer, she has been on antibiotics for the duration of her hospital stay for a persistent fever. The doctors don’t think the fever is related to the cancer, but nonetheless, it won’t go away. So, there she remains. It’s been over 4 months and no one, not even the doctors, can say what’s next. Things have been extraordinarily difficult for Atiyah and the whole family. When she lost all her hair after only her second round of chemo, Atiyah asked the doctors if she was going to die. The doctors told her that the medicine was so strong that it was making her hair fall out. She has her moments when the gravity of it all just gets her down, but as a perfect example of her renewable optimism, she perked right up and said “hey I can finally where a hat! I’ve always wanted to wear a hat, but my hair was too big. I think I look good in a hat!”
So, we come to you with heavy hearts asking for your help. As you can imagine, the medical bills are stacking up. Her mom has used up all her vacation days and personal time and is now on leave from work without pay. With the mounting bills and interrupted income, it’s a struggle just to keep a roof over their head. She is doing everything she can to hold it together for Atiyah and her two sisters, but it is all so overwhelming. We hope that you can find it in your heart to help us keep the focus on Atiyah and give her mom and the family a little less to worry about. Thank you for taking the time to read Atiyah’s story and, in advance, thank for your help.
/s/
Monica, Tylease, and Marcia Falls
On Wednesday, June 20th Atiyah was practicing with her softball team the Oxford Lady Jackets. In her position as an outfield catcher, she often has softballs flying at her at full speed. About mid-way through practice a fly ball came her way, she missed and got hit in the leg. It was painful, but hey sometimes that happens in softball. She knew she had to take some time off to heal, but no big deal, right.
Well a week later she still had that pain in her leg. She had been to the doctor but was ensured that it was just a bad bruise and would soon go away. Only it wasn’t going away. It only got worse. The swelling began to spread and with that the pain grew more intense. At this point her mom realized that this was something unusual and that she needed to get a second opinion. Once they got to Children's Hospital (Alabama) they ran some test and discovered that it wasn’t just a bruise, but that there was a mass in her leg. From there, each day, the news just got worse. The mass turned out to be malignant; it was cancer. They ran more test and discovered that it had spread to her kidneys and lungs. Yet another round of test revealed that the cancer continued to spread and had reached her heart. At this point they had performed 10 surgeries on her leg to try to remove the mass, so as to avoid amputation. Thus far, nothing has been successful.
Finally, the official diagnosis came down. It was a rare and very aggressive type of cancer, termed NUT Midline Carcinoma. Atiyah is the first case of this type of cancer that the hospital has ever had and only 20 to 30 cases have been diagnosed in the whole of the United States. With this news, we knew the road ahead would be a rough one.
With the diagnosis, soon it would come time for Atiyah to start her chemotherapy. In any other case, they would be able to send her home and bring her back in, only for treatments and consultations. However, in addition to the cancer, she has been on antibiotics for the duration of her hospital stay for a persistent fever. The doctors don’t think the fever is related to the cancer, but nonetheless, it won’t go away. So, there she remains. It’s been over 4 months and no one, not even the doctors, can say what’s next. Things have been extraordinarily difficult for Atiyah and the whole family. When she lost all her hair after only her second round of chemo, Atiyah asked the doctors if she was going to die. The doctors told her that the medicine was so strong that it was making her hair fall out. She has her moments when the gravity of it all just gets her down, but as a perfect example of her renewable optimism, she perked right up and said “hey I can finally where a hat! I’ve always wanted to wear a hat, but my hair was too big. I think I look good in a hat!”
So, we come to you with heavy hearts asking for your help. As you can imagine, the medical bills are stacking up. Her mom has used up all her vacation days and personal time and is now on leave from work without pay. With the mounting bills and interrupted income, it’s a struggle just to keep a roof over their head. She is doing everything she can to hold it together for Atiyah and her two sisters, but it is all so overwhelming. We hope that you can find it in your heart to help us keep the focus on Atiyah and give her mom and the family a little less to worry about. Thank you for taking the time to read Atiyah’s story and, in advance, thank for your help.
/s/
Monica, Tylease, and Marcia Falls
Co-organizers (2)
Tylease Alli
Organizer
Oxford, AL
Jessica Falls
Beneficiary
Marcia Falls-Nathaniel
Co-organizer