This little Handsome warrior is Gideon: https://facebook/GideonsArmyGive Scott and Dee-Anna Jankurun a small construction business in Vancouver, WA and have five small children ranging from 11 to 2 years old. The entire family loves being outside and enjoying all the Northwest has to offer. In late winter 2012, they were preparing to visit family back East and get pictures taken that they could use on prayer cards for overseas mission work they were planing, however, Gideon had a fairly large (a little bigger than pencil eraser) wart on his left cheek, it was bright red ,would bleed and scab over often. Dee-Anna was at the the pediatricians office for one of her other kids,and asked the doctor to remove it while the were there .The doctor tried to burn it off, but over the next few weeks, it only grew back and looked angrier. In February(after 4 months with no improvement) for Gideon’s 3 year old check up, Dee-Anna asked about the spot again,but this time the pediatrician referred Gideon to a dermatologist in the same building, saying that the derm would have more tools in his arsenal”,and sInce it wasnt an urgent matter, the appointment got put off and wasnt made until late April, when his mom just didnt want to look at it anymore. The dermatologist decided to do a shave biopsy in his office that day, he said he would send it off and have it looked at, but really wast concerned, however, the results came back as spitz nevus, with a high motility rate and possible melanoma.Within a few days the dermatologist called to tell Dee-Anna over the phone, that it was indeed melanoma, but that not a lot was known about it. Dee-Anna remembers hearing the words aggressive and rare,and after many discussions and lots of research, the decision was made that because of lack of experience with childhood melanoma, and the position on his face, it would be best to send Gideon to see a specialist. The family travelled to a childrens hospital about 3 hours from home, where they were told that it should be removed, but since kids dont get melanoma, the results were wrong and we should just forget about it, besides, the specialist said the treatment for melanoma is scary and you dont want to go down that path”, however, Gideons parents were not comfortable with this plan. They allowed the excision with a very small margin (even though they knew it wouldnt be enough) , just to at least take the first steps while they researched where else to go and what to do,but because of the confusion in diagnosis, it took almost six months for his parents to find a way to get a CGH done, which would definitively tell them whether or not this was melanoma or a benign spitz nevus. On October 10, 2013, their fears were confirmed, this was Spitz Melanoma,and the dr. recommended that quick action be taken, since they had already lost so much time. The pediatrician and local dermatologist both apologized for not getting answers sooner, but also took steps to get Gideon into the best hands possible to get proper treatment which was St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, a staggering 2000 miles from home,so unsure of how to get there, Dee-Anna stayed up all night looking for tickets. The next morning the hospital called with tickets for Dee-Anna and Gideon to leave on Monday - just two days away! They had appointments all the following week that showed no spread of the disease, and surgery was scheduled. Gideon ultimately had to have about a 2 inch section of cheek removed,which was able to be closed without a graft, thanks to the amazing work of a plastic surgeon at St. Jude, Dr. Wallace,and at the same time they also performed a sentinel node mapping and biopsied three nodes. One of the nodes had minimal spread, but Gideons parents agreed with the recommendation that they not do a radical node dissection at that time. Gideon now undergoes full body scans every 3 months, and at his first 3 month check up a small nodule was found on his right cheek, which was removed with the results showing pre-cancerous. On this same visit doctors did a scar revision on his left cheek,which showed additional cancerous cells being found and removed. The following day after this procedure,Gideon,celebrated his 4th birthday with a smile on his face, and a great attitude..Please continue to pray for this little warrior,and his family. caringbridge.org/visit/aboygideon www3.mdanderson.org/streams/FullVideoPlayer.cfm… (Pediatric Melanoma PSA)
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 04:02:04 +0000