Gianna's current and future cancer battle

This GoFundMe is being made for Gianna's current and future costs, lost wages, transportation and future care!!

Our daughter Gianna was admitted into the hospital back at the beginning of March (3rd thru the 15th) with necrotizing pneumonia!! We thought once we were discharged and finished her 6 week antibiotics that we would have our baby girl back!! Unfortunately we were in for something we NEVER expected to hear!!

Last Thursday Gianna started to run a very high fever again so we brought her back to children's hospital in Pittsburgh. At first they thought it was the necrotizing pneumonia that came back but after being admitted immediately and a CT scan....we were told the most devastating news we have ever heard.... Gianna was diagnosed with cancer!!!! She has a mass that takes up the whole entire left lung and the mass is completely solid!! So ofcourse my first question was HOW?!?! HOW WAS THIS MISSED less then a month ago??!?!? We were told Gianna has PPB (pleuropulmonary Blastoma type 3 cancer)!!! 90% of the time with PPB it hides itself behind pneumonia at first and then takes off like wildfire!! It's a very fast moving aggressive cancer. Unfortunately on all the scans it looks exactly like pneumonia does. Nobody thinks to look for PPB because only 40 to 50 children in the USA get diagnosed with it a year! It's a genetic mutation that causes this cancer and it's SOOO soooo rare!!

Then Friday morning at 130am Gianna was rushed down to the PICU because her breathing was so shallow and her stats were dropping. Once we were down there she was started on oxygen to assist with her breathing. She had multiple x-rays, CT scans and a countless amount of blood work run. Saturday morning we went to IR (internal radiation) and they inserted her PICC line, peripheral IV and took a biopsy of the mass! Gianna was stable all through that procedure! Thank God!! Once she was done we came back up to the PICU and now it was time to wait and wait and wait!! It seemed like FOREVER waiting for results to come back!!! Later that day is when we were introduced to her oncology team. During this time Gianna seemed happy and content! They were giving her 3 different antibiotics to help her inflammation because her mass is infected and growing!! The mass is so large it's pushing all her other organs including her heart so Gianna's pulse (heart) is over working itself. The antibiotics started to help with some of the inflammation which was great! Once her lab results came back they were able to drop her down to just the unison. That means she doesn't have any MRSA in her blood stream! As time went on we started to see Gianna start to get more lethargic and fatigued. She started getting very fussy and her pulse was extremely high again. On Sunday we were told Monday morning that Gianna would be getting a PET/CT and a MRI of her brain to see if the cancer has spread throughout her body!! We waited what seemed like the longest 18 hours for Monday morning. Monday morning flew by and still no word on the scans. We started to ask why her scans weren't being scheduled as we knew the tumor was very large and we needed answers TODAY!! Monday late afternoon we were informed that children's didn't have the serum for the PET scan and it needed to be ordered and shipped!! So they expected us to wait until this serum was shipped a couple days later?!?!? WRONG not happening!! We expressed our concerns with the time and stated we weren't okay with this plan and they NEEDED to get that serum immediately and plan the scans asap. That was only part of the problem though. The other part was they didn't want to intubate Gianna twice on 2 separate occasions because both scans need sedation. Unfortunately Gianna's body couldn't handle a light sedation because of her shallow breathing so they needed to completely intubate her. So the best way they could coordinate that with being so short staffed was to do her MRI Tuesday early afternoon (which really ended up being 7pm) and keep her intubated over night until 10 am Wednesday morning for her PET/CT scan! During this time they were magically able to retrieve the serum for the PET scan so we agreed to do that with a few concerns but it was our safest option (or so we thought)!! Unfortunately Gianna's body had different plans!

She was stable through the MRI of her brain but when they brought her back up to her room in the PICU her stats started to drop rapidly!! They couldn't stabilize her at first but after awhile they were able to get her some what comfortable while being intubated! Working in the medical field I thought I would be okay with seeing her intubated but it was something no parent could EVER prepare enough for!! Andy and I stood there holding each other watching our baby struggle and fight for her life!! It was absolutely terrible!! She was good up until 4 am and thats when things took a major turn!! Gianna started to "crash" 3 different times from 4 am to 630am. Her tube was too high so they adjusted it and ended up putting it into her right lung so they had to move it a third time!! They ended up having to take her off the ventilator and breathe for her to bring her back!!! Watching ALL of this broke my heart in so many ways! It was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed especially since she was intubated!!! After they brought her back the 3rd time she started to stabilize herself. Her blood gas levels were very high and they were trying to control them to transport her for her scans. Once she was stable enough we moved her down to the 2nd floor. They completed the tests and we waited anxiously for her return. When she was brought back they had some complications with her blood gas again and the co2 was building up inside of her and she wasn't breathing at all besides with the vent! After a couple hours went by and she still wasn't breathing well enough they stopped the fentanyl and she woke up about 45 mins later BUT they had to keep her intubated because she wasn't breathing well enough to pull the tube!! Watching her lay there awake intubated was absolutely HORRIBLE!!!! HORRIBLE!! After closer monitoring and throwing up while being intubated, they decided to pull the breathing tube!! She did ABSOLUTELY amazing!! Not one tear at all and she coughed so hard (which is what they want)! Now we waited anxiously for the results from the scan!!! THE PET SCAN CAME BACK NORMAL!!!! HER CANCER IS CONSOLIDATED IN ONE SPOT!!!! ❤️❤️ thank you Jesus!! that means Gianna has a fighting chance! Unfortunately the tumor has grown in size since Thursday when we were admitted so time is very precious right now! Currently we're waiting to speak with the oncologist tomorrow morning for a better plan. We know she'll have a 36 week VERY intense chemo treatment. They plan on shrinking the tumor first and then doing the surgery half way through chemo (as long as Gianna's body responds well)! Gianna and I will be spending 2 to 3 days a week at children's for 36 weeks so unfortunately I'm going to have to leave my job behind right now but I'm absolutely 100% okay with that if it's too help save our babies life!!! We will know a little more tomorrow but as of now she's stable and peacefully sleeping. We're waiting to be moved from PICU tonight and up to the oncologly floor!!!

I want to say thank you ALL so much again for your thoughts and prayers during this tragic time!! This is by far the scariest thing we have ever ever witnessed or gone through BUT we're all staying strong for midgey!! She is my true hero!!! She is fighting incredibly hard already!!! Please pray they're able to shrink this tumor to a small enough size to safely remove it!! We need her healthy and with us for many many years to come!!!! We love you soooo soooo soooo incredibly much Gianna Marie!!!!

We are looking into a second opinion with a specialist in Boston who has completed 8 of these surgeries successfully. Children's has only ever had 1 other case of this PPB type 3 cancer (they believe it's type 3)!! only 40 to 50 kids in the USA are diagnosed every year with this cancer!! It's SOOO SOOO rare so we are looking into possibly transporting her safely to Boston somehow!! We will do ANYTHING to keep/help our baby girl!!! ❤️❤️❤️

#fighthardmidgeymoo

You're loved by SOOO SOOO many people sweet heart!!! We are going to stand behind you during this whole process and fight this cancer with you!!!❤️❤️