Help for Austins Cancer Battle
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This is set up to help out with bills and expenses for my 8 year old daughter Austin Smith who is battling cancer for the second time in her short life. She had immediate brain surgery shortly after her 5th birthday to remove a blood clot after we found her unresponsive. This left her with temporary paralysis on her left side and affected her balance and her left foot has never been the same since. She is a fighter and was determined to get out of the wheelchair and to this day is still doing physical and occupational therapy. A year later in almost the same spot as the blood clot they found a tumor and did another brain surgery and 6 weeks of radiation and a year of chemo. She still had to get MRIs every 3 months andthe latest one showed a new growth in her brain and they wanted to check her spine and found 3 more tumors. The doctors at MUSC have conferred with St Judes and other childrens cancer hospitals across the country and they all seem to be in agreement that getting a biopsy of one of the new tumors is the best thing so they can try to classify it although her cancer over 2 years ago was so rare that the best pathologist in the nation at Johns Hopkins couldn't say specifically what it was because it had characteristics of 7 or 8 different kinds of cancers. It is so rare and they have no case studies anywhere to go off ofor any clinical trials because they can't determine what it is exactly which makes treatment and coming up wih a plan very difficult. They said it could have metastasized more now and there is a chance they could discover what it is and make a better treatment plan. The tumor is directly on her spine and just getting to it and taking samples for biopsy is a lot more complicated than I had imagined. The surgery will be 6 hours and could potentially have complication being in such a tough spot and it makes me so sad. The recovery will be a week in the hospital with the first 24 hours in intensive care so they can monitor her closely. This is just to take samples, not to remove it. It could be growing out of her spine and they don't want to risk removing the whole thing. The plan now is to do the biopsy and then do 5 to 6 weeks of radiation to try and get rid of the tumors in her spine and brain. This whole thing is so disheartening and I feel so bad for her that she has to do this again before she even turns 9. The child can't catch a break and I love her so much and am just heart broken over the situation. She is so strong and resilient and a trooper and with GOD looking out for her and all of your prayers she will be stronger than ever and get through this ordeal. Please pray for her. The surgery will be Monday or Tuesday. Anything that you can do to help out would be much appreciated. The bills pile up and the expenses to stay in hotels and food and other necessities are really high. We live over 2 hours from Charleston and her radiation treatments were before 8 am every time 2 years ago and it is too much to travel back and forth everyday. We also would like to take her on a trip possibly to Disney World depending on the outcome of the radiation treatments and what occurs. Thank you very much.
Organizer
Brent Smith
Organizer
Myrtle Beach, SC
