Please introduce yourself!

[Anissa Mayhew]

Please share whatever you want about yourself and your child, family or situation.

Don't forget to add a website if you have one.

[Anissa Mayhew]

A clone of me would be helpful, there would be two of us not getting the laundry folded! I don't think Pete could handle it.

Basi said:

Hi everybody,
I'm Basi and my daughter is Kate. Basi is short for Basilisa, which is a mouthful even for me. It's pronounced like "bossy", which I am, so it's okay. We live in South Fla. and have two girls, Belen who is 7 (going on 15) and Kate, 4. Kate is a sweet little monkey. Kate was diagnosed Dec. of 2005 with an optic/hypothalamic glioma. Her tumor is considered benign, but it is inoperable b/c it's wrapped around the carotic artery, as well as the optic chiasm. She has had 6 brain surgeries due to issues. She's been on three different chemotherapies in these 2+ years. We also had radiation this past summer at St. Jude. We were hoping that we could post-pone that step, but most doctors were in agreement that we had done as much surgery and chemo as we could. We are thankful that Kate is doing well today. She's about two months post radiation. Her MRI last week showed a tumor that is responding well to the radiation, showing shrinkage for the first time ever!!

We certainly have our share of issues and will probably have more post-treatment, as many of you already know and have experienced, but we're happy to be done with treatment and are hopeful that Kate will continue to be strong and give us the strength to keep going.

I hope to get to know you through this forum. Thanks Anissa, aka Wonder Woman, for creating this. (You rock!) Are you sure you don't have a clone of yourself. I don't know how you do it.

basi,
belen and kate's mom

[Julie Cutsinger]

Hi, my name is Julie. I'm from Sandwich, IL. Wife to Mike and mother to Robert, 13 1/2 and McKenna 6 1/2. They all are the joys of my life. The day after Thanksgiving in 2005 was the beginning of our journey but at the time we weren't sure what the journey was. McKenna was only 3 1/2 when she was diagnosed. It all started with a bloody nose from hell. A trip to the pediatricians office turned into a 9 day stay at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and a diagnosis of Pre-B Standard Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. McKenna was treated with only chemotherapy and did very well. She had very little side effects that bothered her, even when she lost her hair. She actually thought that was the greatest thing. Made bath time so much easier. As of March 29, 2008 she finished treatment. She had her port removed in June of 2008. She remains doing well but for me this is the worst part. Going through treatment, at least there were meds to help kill the cancer. Now there are not. Now we wait and waiting is not one of my strong points. Waiting for her to grow up, waiting to see if the cancer stays gone, waiting for the unknown. The Future. While that is a normal part of everyone's lives, our future is forever changed. Our normal is no longer the same as the average family. Our journey with our NEW normal is just barely beginning.

[Julie Cutsinger]

I would also like to add (since I forgot in the original post) if anyone would like to read about McKenna's journey please go to www.carepages.com Page name: GSKenna
Julie Cutsinger said:

Hi, my name is Julie. I'm from Sandwich, IL. Wife to Mike and mother to Robert, 13 1/2 and McKenna 6 1/2. They all are the joys of my life. The day after Thanksgiving in 2005 was the beginning of our journey but at the time we weren't sure what the journey was. McKenna was only 3 1/2 when she was diagnosed. It all started with a bloody nose from hell. A trip to the pediatricians office turned into a 9 day stay at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and a diagnosis of Pre-B Standard Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. McKenna was treated with only chemotherapy and did very well. She had very little side effects that bothered her, even when she lost her hair. She actually thought that was the greatest thing. Made bath time so much easier. As of March 29, 2008 she finished treatment. She had her port removed in June of 2008. She remains doing well but for me this is the worst part. Going through treatment, at least there were meds to help kill the cancer. Now there are not. Now we wait and waiting is not one of my strong points. Waiting for her to grow up, waiting to see if the cancer stays gone, waiting for the unknown. The Future. While that is a normal part of everyone's lives, our future is forever changed. Our normal is no longer the same as the average family. Our journey with our NEW normal is just barely beginning.