Molly

Molly was diagnosed with Stage 2 Wilms' Tumor at 3 weeks old.

On September 22, 2007 I delivered what looked to me like a perfectly healthy baby. After delivery, during a routine check her pediatrician felt a slight abnormality in her abdomen. He expressed his concern, but I wasn't really worried - what could be wrong? She looked like a perfect little angel to me! The day she was released from the hospital her doctor sent her for an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed a large tumor fully encapsulating her right kidney. We were told her kidney would need to be removed, but not to worry. We were told how extremely rare it is for a baby to be born with cancer. The biopsy, however, showed the tumor was cancerous - Stage 2 Wilms' Tumor. The oncologists told us we won the lottery of cancers because Wilms' was so well researched. When your newborn is diagnosed with cancer you don't feel like you won anything...especially not a lottery, but 5 years later I know we did. Molly is a happy healthy kindergartner with 4.5 years "cancer free" under her belt.

It's a tough road for even the "lucky" cancer families like us. We struggled. We feared, but we made it through. What I can never get over, though, is what I have seen...the families that didn't win the lottery. Their children's cancers have not been researched well, because most haven't. Going to clinic each week and seeing children waste away will always weigh on my mind and heart. If children have to get cancer shouldn't they at least be given a fighting chance? My daughter is proof that research saves lives. I have no doubt that it did. Cures and alternate therapies are out there - we just need to find them! Please do what you can to join the fight against children's cancer.