In July 2009, our five-year-old son Adam was diagnosed with High-Risk Neuroblastoma, one of the most aggressive and difficult to treat of all paediatric cancers. The cancer had spread from a primary abdominal tumour to bones, bone marrow and lymph nodes.
Over the past two-and-a-half years Adam has endured 14 months of chemotherapy, two rounds of internal radiation therapy, 3 stem cell harvests, a 7-hour surgical tumour resection, high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue, 8 months of oral retinoid therapy and 6 months of immunotherapy. His condition stabilised, but he has never been clear of cancer.
In January 2012, an MRI scan done in Germany showed up a new 'mass' in Adam's abdomen between the aora and vena cava inferior. For ten days this devastating news left us believing Adam's cancer had begun growing again, and our only option now was to take Adam abroad for prolonged treatment in the hope that his disease might become treatable as a long-term chronic condition.
A follow-up MIBG scan in the UK reported Adam's condition as remaining stable, no change from previous scan in October 2011, and specifically no new areas of disease. Whereas doctors in Germany left no room for doubt that an MIBG scan would confirm the findings of the MRI as being disease progression, in fact it now cast doubt on such conclusions.
Our plan is to do another MRI in mid-February, a month after the scan in Germany. This will enable us to see whether the mass is still present and, if so, whether it has changed in size. After this we may be able to make a better determination of what is going on. Obviously our fervent hope is that it will have disappeared, our greatest fear that it will have grown.
This latest episode has served as a harsh reminder of the reality of our situation, and the uncertain future that we face. However, we are resolved to do whatever possible for Adam, and know we will remain strong together as a family.
You can follow Adam's progress at http://blog.adamsappeal.org.
