Kelly's Story

I have been so busy answering phone calls with concerns about Kelly, we have decided to create a family website so we can keep everyone updated on our family, and most of all, what is happening with Kelly. What a journey she is on.

After a seizure in April, she was admitted to Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) where a small mass was found in her brain. Her doctor recommended that we watch it instead of trying to biopsy it immediately since it was located about two inches into her brain. None of the several doctors that looked at her MRI thought it looked dangerous. Then in June she began having severe headaches and vision problems. She was admitted into CHOC again for tests. Her pediatric neurosurgeon found that the "mass" had grown since her first MRI and now felt he needed to do a biopsy to see what it was. The biopsy showed abnormal cells, so he scheduled her for surgery to remove the tumor, which they were calling a Grade 2 Glioma (they were no longer calling it a "mass"). Brain tumors are graded 1 through 4, with 4 being the most dangerous, fast growing, aggressive type of cancer. So we thought, OK, we can deal with this, it could be much worse. Her doctor recommended that Kevin (who has been working with the Marines on active duty in Hawaii) should come home for this next surgery, as there were certain risks involved since he had to go through her brain to get to the tumor, but we all agreed that the best thing for Kelly was to get this tumor out of her brain.

On July 16, 2007, she had surgery where her pediatric neurosurgeon successfully removed the tumor. He was thrilled with the results of the surgery and the MRI the next day showed just what he wanted to see - a successful total resection (removal) of the tumor. So we were feeling pretty relieved one day post surgery. All that changed the next morning, however. I knew something was not right when they asked if Kevin could come in so the oncologist could talk to both of us. Since Kevin was in meetings at Camp Pendleton, which is pretty far from the hospital in Orange, I met with Kelly's doctors and was given bad news. The pathology report for the tumor that was removed now showed it to be a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme tumor. This was much worse than the pathology report from the biopsy, but it was much more accurate because they could look at the entire tumor now instead of just the small samples they used for the biopsy. This was the worst kind of tumor she could have. Because grade 4 tumors are so aggressive and fast growing, they know there are very small cancer cells left in her brain that left untreated, will grow into tumors. There is no choice but to treat her very aggressively now.

After her brain has another week to heal from her surgery, she will begin radiation therapy and chemotherapy simultaneously. They are hoping that doing both therapies together will be more successful. She will be part of a clinical trial study. Fortunately, her chemotherapy will be oral medication that she can take at home. I will be driving her to Orange 5 days a week for her radiation, plus one day a week she will be seen by her oncologist and have labs drawn to keep a close eye on her health. We feel very fortunate that Kelly has had such good care so far. We have had such a good experience with the whole neuroscience team at CHOC.

She is in for a rough ride this next year though. She will not be attending her high school in the fall, instead she'll be home tutored. Her doctors don't want her exposed to all the other kids since the radiation and chemotherapy is going to damage her white blood cells and weaken her immune system. We have to watch her carefully for any sign of illness or infection, which can be extremely serious for a cancer patient. Plus, she is just going to feel lousy.

We appreciate everyone's concerns, but right now it is overwhelming to keep answering phone calls. It still is hard to talk about all the time, as this news is still sinking in. Amazing how your life can change dramatically so fast. We would love to hear from you by posting on this website or emailing us. We will keep everyone updated by posting on this website.