Addison
Donation protected
This is a hard story to hear, let alone a hard story to tell.
On Monday, September 14th Addison (3 years old) was taken to her Dr for a normal follow up from having not been feeling well. They finally decided to an x-ray and found a mass. Her Dad, who is a Firefighter in our Volunteer Department, and her Mom's world was immediately turned upside down. They had to figure out who could take care of their other 2 younger children and pack up and head to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine where she is being treated in the Barbara Bush Center.
After further testing they have confirmed that she has a tumor that has completely taken over her left kidney, and a few other smaller tumors and it is impacting lymph nodes as well. She has surgery scheduled tomorrow to remove what they can and send it off for testing but they are pretty confident that it is Wilms tumor/cancer. The treatment plan is still being discussed but it will include at least chemo.
No child, no family should have to go through this. Our firefighting family is close and our hearts break with theirs. We do not want them worrying about missing work, unpaid time, food, gas, medical bills. We will be doing more fundraising locally but in the meantime we are asking....please, can you help? Any amount would mean so much to this family and please share this request.
Update 10/2 from Addison's mom:
As said before the pathology is Wilms, all of the lymph nodes removed and tumors were all positive for Wilms which is what they reffered to as an invasion of the abdominal cavity which is why radition is added.
There are two prepared treatment plans. One is for stage 3 and one for stage 4.
They are going to do an evaluation after 6 weeks to see how the cancer is responding to treatment and if there are any new tumors in her lungs in addition to how some additional tests come back as to determine which treatment plan to use after the 6 weeks.
They are using the stage 3 treatment plan with 28 weeks of chemotherapy and total abdominal radiation.
The medications used are VinCRIStine, Dactinomycin and DOXORUBICIN.
All the treatment will be out patient on this plan.
She will have a port put in next week which is also when she will start treatment (nothing scheduled)
We're not filled in on all the radiation details yet because this is a second specialist we have to go meet with them sometime next week
Some side affects from this include typical chemotherapy side affects like mouth sores, nausea, diarrhea, hair loss, blood count issues (requiring transfusion). Another side affect they are worried about is PCP Pneumonia which they will have to give her a preventative for.
If we use stage 4 treatment she will need inpatient for 5 days per cycle for 33 weeks. This treatment would add radition to the lungs and also has 2 drugs in addition to the previous ones with serious side effects including weakened heart squeeze and permanent kidney damage.
This second treatment plan is a real possibility and not just a "you're thinking the worst" because her diagram was knicked and cancer cells did get in.
On Monday, September 14th Addison (3 years old) was taken to her Dr for a normal follow up from having not been feeling well. They finally decided to an x-ray and found a mass. Her Dad, who is a Firefighter in our Volunteer Department, and her Mom's world was immediately turned upside down. They had to figure out who could take care of their other 2 younger children and pack up and head to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine where she is being treated in the Barbara Bush Center.
After further testing they have confirmed that she has a tumor that has completely taken over her left kidney, and a few other smaller tumors and it is impacting lymph nodes as well. She has surgery scheduled tomorrow to remove what they can and send it off for testing but they are pretty confident that it is Wilms tumor/cancer. The treatment plan is still being discussed but it will include at least chemo.
No child, no family should have to go through this. Our firefighting family is close and our hearts break with theirs. We do not want them worrying about missing work, unpaid time, food, gas, medical bills. We will be doing more fundraising locally but in the meantime we are asking....please, can you help? Any amount would mean so much to this family and please share this request.
Update 10/2 from Addison's mom:
As said before the pathology is Wilms, all of the lymph nodes removed and tumors were all positive for Wilms which is what they reffered to as an invasion of the abdominal cavity which is why radition is added.
There are two prepared treatment plans. One is for stage 3 and one for stage 4.
They are going to do an evaluation after 6 weeks to see how the cancer is responding to treatment and if there are any new tumors in her lungs in addition to how some additional tests come back as to determine which treatment plan to use after the 6 weeks.
They are using the stage 3 treatment plan with 28 weeks of chemotherapy and total abdominal radiation.
The medications used are VinCRIStine, Dactinomycin and DOXORUBICIN.
All the treatment will be out patient on this plan.
She will have a port put in next week which is also when she will start treatment (nothing scheduled)
We're not filled in on all the radiation details yet because this is a second specialist we have to go meet with them sometime next week
Some side affects from this include typical chemotherapy side affects like mouth sores, nausea, diarrhea, hair loss, blood count issues (requiring transfusion). Another side affect they are worried about is PCP Pneumonia which they will have to give her a preventative for.
If we use stage 4 treatment she will need inpatient for 5 days per cycle for 33 weeks. This treatment would add radition to the lungs and also has 2 drugs in addition to the previous ones with serious side effects including weakened heart squeeze and permanent kidney damage.
This second treatment plan is a real possibility and not just a "you're thinking the worst" because her diagram was knicked and cancer cells did get in.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lisa Gillespie
Organizer
Liberty, ME
Tyler Grindle
Beneficiary
