Clarissa’s Fight Against Cancer
Donation protected
Hello,
My name is Robert. This campaign is for my daughter Clarissa; she is 3 years old. She loves to dress up like a princess, she enjoy McDonald’s, her favorite movie is Frozen. She taught herself colors and numbers by watching YouTube. She loves imaginary play, has lots of stuff animals and wants to be a doctor one day.
On Friday May 25th. My wife and I received the worst possible words that a parent can hear. “Your child has cancer”. Our jaws dropped and or hearts stopped. How can this be possible. She eats healthy foods, consumes very little sugar and is very active. After a second ultra sound it was confirmed she had a mass the size of a football growing on her kidney and it was pushing several organs out of place. Our hearts were racing, we began to fear the worst “this thing spreading all over her body resulting in stage 3 possible 4 “
surgery was set for Monday. We took her to the best hospital we can find; Cornell Medical in Manhattan.
The weekend went by very slowly. We received many visitors and prayers on Facebook but our fears were far from eased. We met with so many different doctors each assuring us that our daughter is going to be ok.
Monday arrived and we must have had about a dozen visitors in our room all praying and hugging us. We did not eat or sleep for several days now and was exhausted. At around 1 pm a transporter came by “the surgeons are ready for your daughter”. We accompanied him to the OR; there they are, a team of about 6 or 7. They looked very confident and once again assuring us she was going to be ok. As they began to administer the anesthesia my wife fainted right there in the Floor. She was put on a stretcher and taken to the ER. I declined medical attention and told them she just need a little time to recover.
My wife finally came around about twenty minutes later, dazed, confused unaware if she was dreaming or awake. Reality sunk in when she realized that our daughter was not in the room with us. We sat there and watched the clock for hours. The Surgeon told us that the procedure should take about four hours. Five hours later we began to get nervous. No one came out of the OR and there was no news either. Finally six and a half hours later, we heard the door open it was him our hero my daughters savior. “Everything went well” he said she is recovering and will be in Pediatric ICU in a few min. He then went into detail “it was a large mass that was wrapped around her kidney and was partially attached to he liver and diaphragm. The entire kidney was removed along with parts of the liver and diaphragm. It was deamed a stage one and the tumor was indeed cancer. A rare form that occurs in 1 out of 10000 children, there were only 500 cases reported last year in the US.
Now for the second battle. 18 weeks of chemo. 1 dose per week and 2 doses during weeks 15 to 18. It will be grueling. Hair loss, sour mouth, no appetite, weak immune system just to name a few.
We will not be able to go to work for the next four months and we know the medical bills will soon arrive. I would have given my life if it meant my daughter can live a full one. For now we have to live to make sure she can grow up and be a doctor. I see these documentaries on TV all the time and pray that I never have to go though that. Well I am going though it. Although God and the wonderful surgeon at Cornell saved my Little girls life, I need the public’s help to make sure we can continue to give her the best care and help with current and future health care costs.
Thank You
God bless
My name is Robert. This campaign is for my daughter Clarissa; she is 3 years old. She loves to dress up like a princess, she enjoy McDonald’s, her favorite movie is Frozen. She taught herself colors and numbers by watching YouTube. She loves imaginary play, has lots of stuff animals and wants to be a doctor one day.
On Friday May 25th. My wife and I received the worst possible words that a parent can hear. “Your child has cancer”. Our jaws dropped and or hearts stopped. How can this be possible. She eats healthy foods, consumes very little sugar and is very active. After a second ultra sound it was confirmed she had a mass the size of a football growing on her kidney and it was pushing several organs out of place. Our hearts were racing, we began to fear the worst “this thing spreading all over her body resulting in stage 3 possible 4 “
surgery was set for Monday. We took her to the best hospital we can find; Cornell Medical in Manhattan.
The weekend went by very slowly. We received many visitors and prayers on Facebook but our fears were far from eased. We met with so many different doctors each assuring us that our daughter is going to be ok.
Monday arrived and we must have had about a dozen visitors in our room all praying and hugging us. We did not eat or sleep for several days now and was exhausted. At around 1 pm a transporter came by “the surgeons are ready for your daughter”. We accompanied him to the OR; there they are, a team of about 6 or 7. They looked very confident and once again assuring us she was going to be ok. As they began to administer the anesthesia my wife fainted right there in the Floor. She was put on a stretcher and taken to the ER. I declined medical attention and told them she just need a little time to recover.
My wife finally came around about twenty minutes later, dazed, confused unaware if she was dreaming or awake. Reality sunk in when she realized that our daughter was not in the room with us. We sat there and watched the clock for hours. The Surgeon told us that the procedure should take about four hours. Five hours later we began to get nervous. No one came out of the OR and there was no news either. Finally six and a half hours later, we heard the door open it was him our hero my daughters savior. “Everything went well” he said she is recovering and will be in Pediatric ICU in a few min. He then went into detail “it was a large mass that was wrapped around her kidney and was partially attached to he liver and diaphragm. The entire kidney was removed along with parts of the liver and diaphragm. It was deamed a stage one and the tumor was indeed cancer. A rare form that occurs in 1 out of 10000 children, there were only 500 cases reported last year in the US.
Now for the second battle. 18 weeks of chemo. 1 dose per week and 2 doses during weeks 15 to 18. It will be grueling. Hair loss, sour mouth, no appetite, weak immune system just to name a few.
We will not be able to go to work for the next four months and we know the medical bills will soon arrive. I would have given my life if it meant my daughter can live a full one. For now we have to live to make sure she can grow up and be a doctor. I see these documentaries on TV all the time and pray that I never have to go though that. Well I am going though it. Although God and the wonderful surgeon at Cornell saved my Little girls life, I need the public’s help to make sure we can continue to give her the best care and help with current and future health care costs.
Thank You
God bless
Organizer
Jean Cormier
Organizer
South Plainfield, NJ
