Noah is a pretty
happy-go-lucky kid with lots of
energy! He enjoys swimming, painting and playing video games. He also loves to
cook and spend time with his brother, Ben, who is 16.
Besides a little
acid reflux, Noah had been fairly healthy until shortly after potty training
began. He was always constipated and complained of tummy pain! This continued
after many doctor’s visits and a lot of MiraLAX.
One morning he
woke up with a 102-degree fever and complaining of side pain. Noah was also and
throwing up yellow bile. His pediatrician sent us to the emergency room where
we waited many hours before they agreed to do a CT scan. Shortly after that we
were rushed by ambulance to Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital where we
told he had a mass on his left kidney that they suspected was a Wilms’ tumor. A
biopsy the next day confirmed that the mass was a stage ruptured Wilms tumor.
Wilms’ tumor is a cancer of the kidneys that occurs most commonly in young children. The prognosis for Wilms' tumor is generally very good with the 5-year survival rate for patients around 90%. However, this prognosis depends highly on diagnosis, staging and treatment.
Noah’s treatment
started about one week after his diagnosis. It started a blood transfusion and
then transitioned 6 weeks of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor before surgery.
He then had the tumor and his one kidney removed. This surgery was followed by
one week of radiation and 5 more months of chemotherapy.
Noah was such a
trooper through all of his treatment! Considering everything he has gone
through at such a young age, he has been such a good kid and he is always
positive and upbeat.
As of May 2013,
Noah will be two years cancer free and coming up on April 28th, it
has been two years since Noah’s last chemo treatment!
“My dream is
that we can move past this part of our life as much as we can and use what we have
learned to help fight for the rest of the kids going through or who will go
through these nasty diseases!” – Noah’s mom Kathy
2 comments:
Noah and his family are an inspiration! Wonderful people who made lemonade from the lemons they were given.
Inspirational story! Keep positive, Noah! Congrats on beating cancer!
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