Laurel Bares had just celebrated her first birthday. During her medical check-up on March 6, the parents of the little American explained that something was wrong. Their daughter looks bad, she is irritable. Her height is normal but her weight is well below average. The pediatrician examines him, he finds nothing abnormal.
When the little girl grimaces at the examination of the right side of her abdomen, he assures the parents that she is just scared because she knows he is going to give her an injection. He vaccinates her and sends her home. Yet it is about the size of a softball.
Stage 4 neuroblastoma
“Call it parental hunch, but we knew something was wrong. She had a spike in fever and was sick. She was holding her stomach all the time and was very pale,” says Leah, her mother at Daily Mail. Laurel’s parents take her back to the doctor, who persists in saying that it is surely nothing serious and that it is necessary to wait. “We almost yelled at them. Something was wrong, we were sure. They told us to go to Boston Children’s Hospital,” Leah continues.
At the hospital, the doctors examine the lump, it’s an 8cm tumor. They do a biopsy, little Laurel has stage 4 neuroblastoma. She begins treatment. After 5 chemotherapy sessions and a major operation, 99% of the tumor is removed. The doctors were optimistic.
But the latest x-rays have shown a return of cancer spreading to his hips, spine, skull and jawbone. Today, parents have to choose between two types of experimental treatments to try to save their baby girl.
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