Today and every Sunday we want people to share stories of their kids to keep reminding people that childhood cancer is not rare and that we need action now more than ever, as more kids are diagnosed every day. Today as we celebrate National Cancer Survivors day, we also remember Nesha. The reality of childhood cancer: May 2012, Nesha was a healthy 10 year old girl, riding four wheelers, playing in the mud, running up and down our driveway. She hurt her knee jumping on the trampoline one day and again the next week at church camp during the last week of May through the first week of June. So I took her to the doctor so he could tell us it was just a sprain. He sent us for an X-ray just to be sure. The X-Ray showed a crack in her right femur so, he sent us for a CT on June 12th. They called just a few hours later and said they needed us back immediately. The doctor set us down and told us that there was a mass on the bottom of her femur and most likely it was osteosarcoma. We kinda set there dumbfounded as he explained that it was a rare cancer that was usually found in adolescents with big growth spurts and was most common at the end of long joints. We were scared but I had never heard of a kid dying from cancer so we were ready to face this battle, but just assumed we would beat it. We were sent to childrens hospital in OKC where they ran bone scans, CTs and blood work. As we set in the room with doctor and he pulled up her scans everything changed. They had never seen a case as advanced as hers with no symptoms. The largest mass was on her right femur, with spots on her spine, pelvic, hips, both shins, left femur, both arms, skull, ribs, and lungs. It was also in her bone marrow and her blood counts were so low they couldnt do a biopsy without first giving her blood and platelets. The biopsy came back as osteosarcoma stage IV with a 10% survival rate. I sat on the edge of my 10 year old daughters hospital bed and explained all this to her and ask her what she wanted to do. Through tears she said I wanna fight. As long as I live I will never forget that day. They started chemo immediately.The first picture is her just days before we started chemo. She went from a perfectly healthy kid to vomiting and dry heaving every 2 hours, too weak to take herself to the bathroom, in just 3 days. She lost 10 pounds that first stay. It was a nightmare. I can remember being so angry because my daughter wasnt sick, they were making her sick. They were killing her with the poison they were pumping in her. We spent 6 weeks out of 10 in the hospital. She was non weight bearing on her right leg, horrible mouth sores, nothing tasted good to her and somehow she still found a way to smile. In September we redid scans. The chemo wasnt working and surgery still wasnt an option. We switched to a different chemo. In November we did scans again, cancer was still winning. We sat down with the doctor and told her that there was not many options left. We told her we could try a trial or we could take a chemo pill at home and just enjoy what time we had left. She wanted to stay home. When the doctor asked her if she understood everything she said ya, can we go shopping now? So thats what we did. By mid December her pain levels were escalating daily but she was still getting around on crutches some, by January she was in a wheel chair almost all the time. By February she didnt get out of bed anymore. Some days we managed pain ok and some days it took all day to get it under control. By the middle of February she was rarely awake. I remember thinking I would lose her any minute. On March 2nd around 10 pm her breathing changed and I immediately knew this was it. We called the family in. Ill spare you the details but it was the worst 7 hours of her life and mine. Her heart stopped beating at 5am on March 3rd, 2013. I HATE cancer for what it put my little girl through. No child deserves the fate Nesha got. Please help us spread awareness. Without it they will never find a cure. There are so many people out there, who like me, have no idea we are losing 7 children everyday. The second picture is Nesha and her little brother just weeks before she passed. Its a heart breaking photo and she would probably be pissed at me for sharing it but it speaks a thousand words. As sick as she was, she always found the strength to love on him even if it was just for a minute. She should have got a life time to do it. We love you to the moon and back Nesha and I will never stop fighting for you.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 16:20:26 +0000
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