Ellie Russell
Donation protected
Hello My name is Ellie Russell,
On June 21st Ellie was taking some piano lessons when she started complaining of hip pain. She said she couldn't complete her lesson because she was in too much pain. My brother and his wife thought this was unusual for her, but she is in competitive soccer, so they just figured she was sore from that. They decided to take her to the hospital anyway, and at around midnight our lives changed forever. The x-rays came back, and showed that Ellie had a massive tumor about the size of a grape fruit.
Best case scenario it would be a Wilms tumor, and they hoped it hadn't ruptured. The next morning however, the surgical team discovered it had ruptured and needed to do a biopsy immediately. The biopsy would mean it is a state 3 tumor. The results from the biopsy came back and it was a stage 3 Wilms tumor. The biopsy incision started to bleed, and the tumor was also bleeding internally. The tumor grew massively over the next few days, causing Ellie massive amounts of pain, and difficulty breathing. They started chemo a week early, and started her on pain treatments.
She has been in and out of the ICU ever since. Once so bright, happy, and full of smiles and love, she now just lays in the hospital bed and doesn't acknowledge when people enter the room. She barely answers questions and shakes while picking at her bandages. Her chemo was cut in half due to her bilirubin being too high, and she started getting jaundice. Outside of kicking herself and moaning in pain, she didn't really move much for awhile. The family finally convinced her to start walking and doing breathing exercises every day, and since she has been much better. She has been able to walk outside, go up and down the grass bumps outside of Randall Children's hospital. And she has been making friends with the dogs and nurses at the hospital. This last week she was finally moved out of ICU and for the first time since she started treatment, she smiled..
The funds raised will go directly to the family to help with medical expenses, activities and toys, and any other unexpected bills.
The time frame for her treatment keeps getting extended but we are hoping that she is able to increase her chemo treatment and get surgery in about 5-6 weeks. After that is the very long road of radiation and recovery. She has not been able to eat solid food or drink anything since starting her treatment.
On June 21st Ellie was taking some piano lessons when she started complaining of hip pain. She said she couldn't complete her lesson because she was in too much pain. My brother and his wife thought this was unusual for her, but she is in competitive soccer, so they just figured she was sore from that. They decided to take her to the hospital anyway, and at around midnight our lives changed forever. The x-rays came back, and showed that Ellie had a massive tumor about the size of a grape fruit.
Best case scenario it would be a Wilms tumor, and they hoped it hadn't ruptured. The next morning however, the surgical team discovered it had ruptured and needed to do a biopsy immediately. The biopsy would mean it is a state 3 tumor. The results from the biopsy came back and it was a stage 3 Wilms tumor. The biopsy incision started to bleed, and the tumor was also bleeding internally. The tumor grew massively over the next few days, causing Ellie massive amounts of pain, and difficulty breathing. They started chemo a week early, and started her on pain treatments.
She has been in and out of the ICU ever since. Once so bright, happy, and full of smiles and love, she now just lays in the hospital bed and doesn't acknowledge when people enter the room. She barely answers questions and shakes while picking at her bandages. Her chemo was cut in half due to her bilirubin being too high, and she started getting jaundice. Outside of kicking herself and moaning in pain, she didn't really move much for awhile. The family finally convinced her to start walking and doing breathing exercises every day, and since she has been much better. She has been able to walk outside, go up and down the grass bumps outside of Randall Children's hospital. And she has been making friends with the dogs and nurses at the hospital. This last week she was finally moved out of ICU and for the first time since she started treatment, she smiled..
The funds raised will go directly to the family to help with medical expenses, activities and toys, and any other unexpected bills.
The time frame for her treatment keeps getting extended but we are hoping that she is able to increase her chemo treatment and get surgery in about 5-6 weeks. After that is the very long road of radiation and recovery. She has not been able to eat solid food or drink anything since starting her treatment.
Organizer and beneficiary
Bryan Russell
Organizer
Vancouver, WA
Kevin Russell
Beneficiary