Zora’s Road To Victory!!

Two weeks ago Zora’s mom noticed a lump on her stomach during bath time. At that time, Zora and her twin sister Ivvy had been transitioning from formula to whole milk and 3 full meals a day. So gas or constipation could have been the culprit. Kim, decided she would monitor the situation after each diaper change. During this time Zora remained her normal active and happy self. She ate and drank as well as having consistent bowel movements.

On day 3 mom began thinking it was something else. She knew it wasn’t related to constipation and began making calls. Everyone was pretty calm. Reassuring Kim that it was probably gas and other normal culprits. The unease mom began to feel wouldn’t allow her to go another day without Zora being examined and a final diagnosis given.

On Monday, March 7th Zora was taken to the Kaiser Permanente Advance Care Facility. There she had a complete examination, x-ray and ultrasound.

Things began moving very fast once ultrasound images were available. On screen it appeared that Zora’s left kidney was enlarged. The tech left to review with the doctor and Kim began calling her husband Brian and mom. In fear that something way more serious was wrong.

And it was…

After waiting a gruesome 30 minutes or so Zora and Kim were called back. The images taken had been sent to multiple pediatric oncologist and they believe Zora had a Wilm’s Tumor. In that moment the world stopped. Tears rolled as mom sat listening to the next steps.

A few short hours later Zora, Mom & Dad would be transported and admitted to Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.

Brian and Kim are a United front and faced the worst situation any parent could be in together. They had more answers than questions for sometime. Labs, scans and ultrasounds were done within 24 hours and on the morning of March, 9th Zora was heading into surgery to remove the tumor, left kidney, 3 nodes and her adrenal glands.

Surgery was a success! But, shortly after Zora’s pressure began to rise and we were sent to PICU where things were scary for awhile.

In a few short days Zora will embark her journey with 19 weeks of chemo therapy, various testing and hospital visits.

Zora’s mother is a full time small business owner and will be shutting both businesses down to focus solely on Zora’s care. Their family is instantly losing two incomes during a time where so many unexpected expenses are arising.

We want to help ease the financial burden for the family as best we can during this time.