Miracle Stories

A little girl's brave struggle

As a bright and active 4-year-old, Kelly loved drawing and painting, and was looking forward to playing t-ball and soccer. She was rarely ill, so when she began getting sick to her stomach repeatedly over the course of a week, her parents, Ellen and Gary, were understandably concerned. They took Kelly to her pediatrician and a specialist before she was finally admitted to an area hospital for tests. The results indicated there was a mass in her brain. Kelly was immediately referred to the world-renowned Falk Brain Tumor Center at Children’s Memorial Hospital. There, further tests provided shocking news: Kelly had numerous tumors in her brain and spine.

“The word ‘devastated’ doesn’t even begin to describe what we were feeling,” says Ellen. So began a medical odyssey that continues to this day.

Shortly after being admitted to Children’s, neurosurgeon Arthur J. DiPatri, Jr. removed most of the tumors within her brain, and weeks later she began radiation treatments and, later, chemotherapy. “We told her she had ‘ouchies’ in her head and needed special medicines to get rid of them,” says Ellen.

The side effects of her treatments took a toll on Kelly.  For a year she was fed through a tube and was unable to walk. She had frequent blood infections, and lost the vision in one eye, as well as part of her hearing.

About eight months after she was diagnosed, Kelly finally began to show improvement. Although the brain tumors were gone, tumors remained in her spine, and her oncologist, Jason Fangusaro, MD, decided upon a regimen of low-dose chemo to improve Kelly’s quality of life.

Although she is still undergoing treatment, Ellen reports Kelly, now 6, is a totally different child. She has returned to school, is in gym class and is enjoying drawing, painting and making arts and crafts projects again. “She’s becoming the old Kelly, the one who loved to giggle and laugh,” says Ellen.