Day 12 of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month This is Penelopes story: On 1/18/14, Shannon and Ben realized their daughter, Penelope, had somehow gone blind. After many procedures and tests, Penelope was diagnosed with high risk stage IV Neuroblastoma on January 22nd, 2014. Her originating tumor is in her abdomen by her spine. The cancer has spread through her bone marrow to numerous spots on her bones (doctors didnt even count these). There are two bigger tumors on her skull, one of which has caused Penelope to go blind. The doctors are also convinced that Penelope has been in pain for quite some time. Penelope endured 5 rounds of harsh chemotherapy before going into surgery to have her base tumor removed. On May 20th, Penelope underwent a very long surgery to remove the tumor from her abdomen. It was a very complicated and tedious surgery as the 2/3 fist size tumor was wrapped around an artery. The surgery went fine and Penelope was recovering. This operation was suppose to be the beginning of a path of more chemo, radiation, and stem cell transplant that would take place in Minnesota at the University. After surgery Penelopes kidneys stopped working and she went into renal failure. Her little body had been through all it could take and on May 26th they lost their beautiful little girl today at approx. 3:30pm. Penelope fought hard, but was overcome by just too many obstacles and challenges in her little body. I am going to leave this story of a one year old lost to neuroblastoma with a quote from her mother, a quote that is heartbreaking and moving and important. Im going to be honest with you all. I am not, nor are we as a family, very religious. So what Im about to say may surprise some people. I am trusting, maybe because I really have no other choice, that whatever happens with our sweet girl, is meant to be. Ive had such a hard time understanding why, if she does not end up making it, why God would have given her to us just to take her away from us. Why, because we were happy and content with our 2 boys for 6 years. We werent trying for another child and honestly werent sure we wanted another especially because of our genetics. But we were SO happy when we found out we were pregnant with her. SO happy when we found out that she was a girl. SO happy when we found out she did not have Cystic Fibrosis. She has changed my life in the last two years, so much. She has been my universe, my life. Ive already gone through the pain of losing my brother 10 years ago. I dont want my boys to experience that pain. I dont want to see my husband go through the pain of losing his daughter. God, I want her to get better so, so badly. But I am going to try to trust that whatever happens is supposed to happen. That God will take care of my baby no matter what. Penelope Eileen Davis 2/23/2013-05/26/2014 follow her page at Penelopes Neuroblastoma Fight
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 14:24:08 +0000