There’s somebody I want you to meet.
Her name is Savannah Swandal. She's suffering from a rare and aggressive form of childhood cancer. She is fighting cancer--Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma--for the third time. She just received some very difficult news.
As her mother explains, “The news I heard was NOT what I wanted to hear. It is not what I hoped for. It is not what I prayed for. It is news that makes me extremely sad, concerned & worried.
The new lesion that was discovered on her last MRI is bigger. It didn't show up on the last PET scan, but it DID show up on yesterday's PET scan. It has doubled in volume. It has grown from 8 mm X 4 mm to 11 1/2 mm X 6 mm in size. The tumor in her tibia is now active on the PET scan & has increased in size from 11 X 7 to 13 X 11.
The other 2 tumors in her calf muscle that (for some unknown reason) weren't mentioned by the radiologist in her previous scan results have also increased in size. A specific measurement for each of them wasn't given so I do not know exactly how much they have grown. Obviously, the chemo that she has been receiving cannot be continued. It is no longer holding her tumors at bay & not allowing them to grow or spread. It has failed by allowing both a new tumor to appear & grow AND the other 3 existing tumors to also grow in size.
We are now faced with choosing the next course of treatment for Savannah. We will have to switch to a different chemo regimen to TRY to rid her body of the 4 existing tumors or at least hold them at bay.”
Her birthday is on Feb 23rd. And we want to have people send a birthday card. One card will go a long way. And it’s going to a 9yr old who could really use a smile.
If you'd like to send a card or note, please mail it to her at: Savannah Hope Swandal, 1809 Brisbane Ln, Mt. Juliet, TN 37122
To learn more about Savannah, go to:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/savannahswandal
