Help Arianna Fight Thyroid Cancer at 15yrs old!
Donazione protetta
Hello Friends and Family we are sharing this on behalf of my niece Arianna. She is an amazing 15-year-old girl who loves her family, competitive cheer, hanging out with friends and binge watching Netflix. Arianna’s story started almost two years ago when her dad took her to the doctor for a lump on her neck. At the time her doctor did blood work and decided that she must have had an infection and that her lymph node is swollen. He gave her antibiotics and sent her home. A month later her dad and grandma took her back in and the same doctor stated “it takes time for the lymph node to go down, but everything looks fine”. In November of 2018 her Uncle and Aunt got legal guardianship of Arianna and they took her to their pediatrician at Kasier. By December 2018 her pediatrician scheduled blood work and then when that came back normal she scheduled an ultrasound of her lump. In January we got news that the lump was a lymph node but there was some red flags in the ultrasound that she would like to get checked out. They then took Arianna to the Ear, nose and throat surgeon. This doctor was concerned about the lump and wanted to do a scope down Arianna’s nose to get a better look. Needless to say a scared 14 year old girl would not allow him to do that procedure while she was awake. So instead the surgeon scheduled a Ct with contrast. We had this scan on Tuesday and were told we would get results 7-10 days. By Thursday her aunt got a phone call while she was at work from the doctor stating that Arianna has cancer. She had a large tumor on her Thyroid and at least a dozen lymph nodes that were infected. He sent us right away to a Pediatric Endroconologist in Roseville. The good news of all this was that her cure rate is 95% at this time. They kept reminding us that “if you had cancer this is the one you would want”. By Friday we were on our way to meet one of the many doctors who would be working to make her healthy again. I wish I could tell you what it was like to tell our 14-year-old that she has cancer. What it was like to pull her out of school and walk her into her home with her aunts, uncles, brothersgrandparents and her parents all there to offer her support. We watched this normal 14-year-old crumble and none of us could make her better. Nothing we could say would take back her feelings of being scared, her fear of losing her hair, her fear of dying. All we could say to her is that we are here and we will get you through this.
Next, We met with the Modesto surgeon doctor who told us that Arianna’s surgery is pretty extensive and would take 8-10 hours. He also stated that he has done this surgery multiple times but he is not a pediatrician surgeon and he would feel more comfortable referring Arianna to a pediatric Surgeon who specializes in her cancer. She then was scheduled for a biopsy where they would numb the area and use a large needle to get samples of the thyroid and some of the lymph nodes to determine what type of cancer we were dealing with. They tried to do this awake here in Modesto but Arianna could not stop crying(understandably) and in return was moving too much and they could not continue the procedure. We ended up going to Roseville where she was put to sleep and the biopsy was performed. We then were sent to a Pediatric surgeon in El Dorado to talk about her surgery plan. We then met doctor Poti who would be the surgeon who performed her surgery in Sacramento on 4/4/2019. She ended up removing 23 lymph nodes and the full thyroid. Her aunt stayed in the hospital with her for two nights and three days while her uncle drove back and forth all three days with Arianna’sbrothers. When Arianna returned home we ended up having to go back to Sacramento the next day to get her drain tubes removed. Her aunt missed three weeks of work to stay home and care for her. The end of April we drove to Roseville to meet her new Dr who would be in charge of her treatment. This doctor went over what the rest of Arianna’s life and told us that they were not able to get all of the cancer out due to the muscle tissue also testing positive for cancer. She told us that her cure rate was still great but that she would be considered high risk. Arianna would need Iodine radiation (hopefully only once at this time) and body scans every 6 months for 5 years and then once a year for the rest of her life due to the likelihood of the cancer returning. In the last two weeks Arianna had to go on a low Iodine diet (she had to give up hot Cheetos and almost everything else she loves), we had to drive to Roseville 4 days in a row because they had to give her shots everyday leading up to her Scan and radiation treatment. On Wednesday her Aunt and Uncle drove her to Roseville once again to get her “simple” scanand first treatment. This 30 minute scan turned into an 1.5 scan so they can get a clearer picture of her cancer. The doctor pulled her aunt and uncle into her office and showed us the scans of Arianna’s chest. We were told that Arianna’s cancer has spread into her lungs. She showed us to many nodules to count in her lungs and in her neck. She explained what the next steps would be and that her treatment will need to be more harsh because we need to kick the cancer hard. We were again once told that Arianna has a long road ahead of her and that she is “higher” risk than before. They told us her cure rate is still good but getting her there was going to be a lot harder. We once again had to tell this beautiful baby girl that she did not get the results we hoped for. We had to tell her that her cancer has spread. We again had to watch her eyes tear up and her face shocked. We had to watch this little girls life change once again. We left Kaiser on Wednesday with three additional scheduled scans, more blood work, and an appointment with her specialist. I am sharing this to ask for any donations you could give Arianna and my sister Krystle and Brother in law Josh who are caring for our baby girl without ever asking for help. They have been missing work, traveling (hotel stays, gas ,food), and has more medical bills than imaginable. Please anything small or large will help them and their family while they are in need
Next, We met with the Modesto surgeon doctor who told us that Arianna’s surgery is pretty extensive and would take 8-10 hours. He also stated that he has done this surgery multiple times but he is not a pediatrician surgeon and he would feel more comfortable referring Arianna to a pediatric Surgeon who specializes in her cancer. She then was scheduled for a biopsy where they would numb the area and use a large needle to get samples of the thyroid and some of the lymph nodes to determine what type of cancer we were dealing with. They tried to do this awake here in Modesto but Arianna could not stop crying(understandably) and in return was moving too much and they could not continue the procedure. We ended up going to Roseville where she was put to sleep and the biopsy was performed. We then were sent to a Pediatric surgeon in El Dorado to talk about her surgery plan. We then met doctor Poti who would be the surgeon who performed her surgery in Sacramento on 4/4/2019. She ended up removing 23 lymph nodes and the full thyroid. Her aunt stayed in the hospital with her for two nights and three days while her uncle drove back and forth all three days with Arianna’sbrothers. When Arianna returned home we ended up having to go back to Sacramento the next day to get her drain tubes removed. Her aunt missed three weeks of work to stay home and care for her. The end of April we drove to Roseville to meet her new Dr who would be in charge of her treatment. This doctor went over what the rest of Arianna’s life and told us that they were not able to get all of the cancer out due to the muscle tissue also testing positive for cancer. She told us that her cure rate was still great but that she would be considered high risk. Arianna would need Iodine radiation (hopefully only once at this time) and body scans every 6 months for 5 years and then once a year for the rest of her life due to the likelihood of the cancer returning. In the last two weeks Arianna had to go on a low Iodine diet (she had to give up hot Cheetos and almost everything else she loves), we had to drive to Roseville 4 days in a row because they had to give her shots everyday leading up to her Scan and radiation treatment. On Wednesday her Aunt and Uncle drove her to Roseville once again to get her “simple” scanand first treatment. This 30 minute scan turned into an 1.5 scan so they can get a clearer picture of her cancer. The doctor pulled her aunt and uncle into her office and showed us the scans of Arianna’s chest. We were told that Arianna’s cancer has spread into her lungs. She showed us to many nodules to count in her lungs and in her neck. She explained what the next steps would be and that her treatment will need to be more harsh because we need to kick the cancer hard. We were again once told that Arianna has a long road ahead of her and that she is “higher” risk than before. They told us her cure rate is still good but getting her there was going to be a lot harder. We once again had to tell this beautiful baby girl that she did not get the results we hoped for. We had to tell her that her cancer has spread. We again had to watch her eyes tear up and her face shocked. We had to watch this little girls life change once again. We left Kaiser on Wednesday with three additional scheduled scans, more blood work, and an appointment with her specialist. I am sharing this to ask for any donations you could give Arianna and my sister Krystle and Brother in law Josh who are caring for our baby girl without ever asking for help. They have been missing work, traveling (hotel stays, gas ,food), and has more medical bills than imaginable. Please anything small or large will help them and their family while they are in need
Organizzatore e beneficiario
Dayna Stump
Organizzatore
Ceres, CA
Krystle Steeley
Beneficiario
