Maddie Moynihan's Cancer Fight
Donation protected
Please donate to help cover the expense of getting Maddie a beautiful wig to rock during her treatment and to help cover the medication the insurance denied... any donation will help and be so appreciated
Maddie's Story as told by her Mom:
Around 11pm Maddie asked me to come into her room and showed me that she had something that was concerning her. Because I couldn't figure out what it might be I immediately took her to the hospital. Within 90 minutes the doctors had me sitting in a room telling me that they thought it was most likely a form of cancer. They had already consulted with an expert at Abington and arranged for Maddie to go there in the morning to be seen. We are so thankful that the doctors at Einstein connected us with this doctor and made it such a smooth transition for us.
The next morning we headed to Abington Hospital to meet Dr. Edelson. He was so kind and caring with Maddie. He quickly examined her and we made the decision that she would be admitted to the hospital for additional testing. Later that night Maddie had an MRI which found a 10cm mass. The next morning they performed surgery and removed a large portion of the mass to make Maddie more comfortable. Before speaking with us, Dr. Edelson already had visited pathology and they had a preliminary diagnosis of Rhabdomyosarcoma.
Dr. Edelson then contacted a doctor at CHOP and made arrangements for Maddie to be seen there on Tuesday (today).
This morning, before the appointment, Dr. Edelson called us to tell us the official diagnosis from Abington is Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma.
We met with 2 of the oncologists at CHOP today. It was a very long day. They decided to keep Maddie to do more bloodwork and to do a chest CT to rule out any cancer in her lungs. Thankfully that came back all clear.
Maddie has been very brave and strong.
Her number one concern, of course, is losing her hair.
Her second concern is how will the affect gymnastics.
Maddie had her first Chemo treatment on 9/11/2015
What a long day! We were at CHOP (in King of Prussia) by 8:30am. They got Maddie set up and going right away. Today's treatment was the most aggressive of all of them and it doesn't happen all that often. Maddie did great. Towards the end of the one medicine she started to feel nauseous but the nurse quickly got her some additional medicine and within a few minutes she was feeling much better. We were home by 5:00pm.
Maddie brought home a new fashion accessory from Clinic -- a backpack and IV pole. After this particular combination of medicines she needs to be hooked up to an IV for 17 hours afterwards. A Home Care nurse came out tonight and taught me how to flush her line and administer some of the medications she will need each day. A nurse will be back out tomorrow to disconnect the IV and teach me how to do that in the future.
Next appointment is Monday. Our insurance has decided not to cover one of the medications that Maddie needs to keep her white blood cell count from dropping too much. Therefore the nurse tomorrow cannot administer it. So we will go on Monday and Maddie's nurse, Meghan (who is wonderful!) will give it to her. We are appealing the denial and hoping that we can get this worked out before the next time Maddie would need it. It's most effective when administered 24 hours after the chemo treatment so waiting until Monday is not ideal.
Stay strong Maddie!
Maddie's Story as told by her Mom:
Around 11pm Maddie asked me to come into her room and showed me that she had something that was concerning her. Because I couldn't figure out what it might be I immediately took her to the hospital. Within 90 minutes the doctors had me sitting in a room telling me that they thought it was most likely a form of cancer. They had already consulted with an expert at Abington and arranged for Maddie to go there in the morning to be seen. We are so thankful that the doctors at Einstein connected us with this doctor and made it such a smooth transition for us.
The next morning we headed to Abington Hospital to meet Dr. Edelson. He was so kind and caring with Maddie. He quickly examined her and we made the decision that she would be admitted to the hospital for additional testing. Later that night Maddie had an MRI which found a 10cm mass. The next morning they performed surgery and removed a large portion of the mass to make Maddie more comfortable. Before speaking with us, Dr. Edelson already had visited pathology and they had a preliminary diagnosis of Rhabdomyosarcoma.
Dr. Edelson then contacted a doctor at CHOP and made arrangements for Maddie to be seen there on Tuesday (today).
This morning, before the appointment, Dr. Edelson called us to tell us the official diagnosis from Abington is Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma.
We met with 2 of the oncologists at CHOP today. It was a very long day. They decided to keep Maddie to do more bloodwork and to do a chest CT to rule out any cancer in her lungs. Thankfully that came back all clear.
Maddie has been very brave and strong.
Her number one concern, of course, is losing her hair.
Her second concern is how will the affect gymnastics.
Maddie had her first Chemo treatment on 9/11/2015
What a long day! We were at CHOP (in King of Prussia) by 8:30am. They got Maddie set up and going right away. Today's treatment was the most aggressive of all of them and it doesn't happen all that often. Maddie did great. Towards the end of the one medicine she started to feel nauseous but the nurse quickly got her some additional medicine and within a few minutes she was feeling much better. We were home by 5:00pm.
Maddie brought home a new fashion accessory from Clinic -- a backpack and IV pole. After this particular combination of medicines she needs to be hooked up to an IV for 17 hours afterwards. A Home Care nurse came out tonight and taught me how to flush her line and administer some of the medications she will need each day. A nurse will be back out tomorrow to disconnect the IV and teach me how to do that in the future.
Next appointment is Monday. Our insurance has decided not to cover one of the medications that Maddie needs to keep her white blood cell count from dropping too much. Therefore the nurse tomorrow cannot administer it. So we will go on Monday and Maddie's nurse, Meghan (who is wonderful!) will give it to her. We are appealing the denial and hoping that we can get this worked out before the next time Maddie would need it. It's most effective when administered 24 hours after the chemo treatment so waiting until Monday is not ideal.
Stay strong Maddie!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jennifer Carrier Lancenese
Organizer
Collegeville, PA
Kim Moynihan
Beneficiary