Hi Everyone,
I know it has been months since I have updated this and I am so sorry for that but we’ve been keeping busy with normal everyday stuff.
We celebrated Brooke’s 6th birthday in November with a huge party at our local YMCA on their indoor soccer field. 68 kids came and everyone seemed to have a blast. We had soccer on half the field, a huge bounce house, face painting/temp tattoos, and activity stations set up on the other half of the field. Brooke was not able to have a birthday party the year before because she was still on her transplant precautions from her 2 stem cell transplants in June and August so we decided to do it up big this year! Special thanks to Adam Manning from Bury Training Club, Leroy Lutz and everyone at the YMCA, Parkside Girls Soccer team, Cassidy (and her friends) and Josh Emhoff. Thank you also to everyone that day that made donations to The Brooke Mulford Foundation – Brooke was able to raise over $1000 for Neuroblastoma research at CHOP! It was a day that we will never forget!
Christmas and friends birthday parties kept us very busy in December. As you might remember, Christmas Eve 2008 was when Brooke started limping and showing symptoms of her cancer and last Christmas Brooke didn’t get out of the hospital from a grueling 2nd round of antibodies and IL2 until December 23rd and was still so very sick on Christmas Eve and morning (it was horrible). This year we prayed for a wonderful Christmas and that’s what we got! Brooke was an Angel in the Christmas Eve church program at Trinity (just like 2 years ago) and I think I cried through the entire service (especially when Rev. Patterson brought Brooke up in front of everyone to show them how far she had come since that day 2 years ago). We are grateful every day for the many prayers that gave us our MIRACLE! Christmas day was equally as wonderful as we were surrounded by our loving family and friends.
Tomorrow (January 5th) is actually the 2 year anniversary of Brooke being diagnosed with cancer. 2 years ago we packed up for an overnight trip to NJ…we wound up spending about 13 hours in CHOP’s emergency room, a couple days in the ICU and then we were moved to the Oncology unit where we spent the majority of our days and nights for the next year and a half. I will never forget that day, that moment that our lives changed…I will never forget when they moved us from the ICU to the oncology floor and how sick I felt just at the sight of the word Oncology on the wall. It felt like we were moving in slow motion and I remember really at that moment how it hit me that this was our lives now. It’s impossible for me to describe it and only those who have lived it themselves can truly understand it. Brooke truly has come so far and we are so proud of her every day for the amazing little girl that she has become. It is not often that an adult would strive to be like a 6 year old but I strive to be more like Brooke every day. To our amazing friends and family and to the people who 2 years ago were strangers and have now become the dearest of friends - thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for your love, friendship, prayers, kindness support & generosity. We would have never made it to this day without you and we will forever be grateful. Please continue to pray for Brooke and all the little warriors out there and for a cure.
God Bless,
Amy
3 comments:
I hope this gives you comfort and hope....
My niece was diagnosed with retinablastoma when she was a year and a half and had her eye removed in addition to the treatment. They were living in Greensboro, NC at the time so her surgery was done at Duke University hospital. That was PURE devine intervention because Duke was the premier hospital for that form of cancer. Her surgeon was the same surgeon tha Ted Kennedy had for his brain tumor.
She had to return to Duke very often in the beginning for constant testing, etc. even after they had moved to Florida. That lessened over time to eventually a once a year visit for a day and a half of testing.
The typical life span for a retinablastoma patient is approximately 12 years old.
Fast forward...she is the oldest survivor of her form of cancer in the WORLD!!! She just turned 28!!!
She was written up in the New England Journal of MD a couple of years ago. In that article they said "we usually speak in terms of remission when speaking of cancer, but in this as we are speaking in terms of cure".
Just wanted you to know that miracles do happen.
P.S. She hasn't had to return to Duke for a check up in over 10 years.
I love to read about miracles. Reminds us that prayer is a powerful thing.
God Bless you and your little girl.
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