A 21-month-old beat stage 4 cancer after more than a year of grueling treatments
18 replies, posted
https://cnn.it/2Kb0h3r
Have some good news today
That's badass as fuck.
One tough kid, damn.
The parents must be so elated. I'm so happy, this made my week.
It's nice having good, wholesome news in a sea of cynicism and tragedy.
I really hope she grows strong and beats that shit for a long and happy life. The rest of this post is a massive downer so if you want to stay positive today skip to the next post.
A musician streamer I'm a fan of/Twitch mod for, he had extended family with a little girl who was fighting stage 4 neuroblastoma from the age of about 4. She spent two years on chemo, in and out of the hospital, and she was declared N.E.D. - no evidence of disease, just as this baby girl is given as in the story. Everyone celebrated, and when the news made it back to musician guy and he relayed it to his stream, there was much partying in chat because we'd become quite invested in this little girl's fight, even though we could only hear it second-hand through him. The chat and the streamer even co-wrote a song for her (and yes he did get to perform it in person for her). She was going to stay on chemo for two more years to make sure they kicked it fully, but the doctors were pleased and her family was supremely relieved (and like $2 million in medical debt because America).
Six months later, the cancer made a surprise return and it had metastisized into her bone marrow and was spreading throughout her body. She was already on a chemo regimen and her body was weak from the years of chemo she'd already had, so they couldn't give her more. The family shifted their focus into making sure her remaining time with them was full of awesome field trips and things.
Riley Rose Sherman passed away in the early morning hours of April 13, 2018. She was six, almost seven years old. fuck cancer
I lost my grandad to complications from cancer a couple of years back, seeing someone who is just as susceptible to those same complications because of a lesser immune system gives me hope for the treatments coming in the future. Beating stage 4 at any age is no mean feat, so this little dude is destined to do something good.
Shit like this makes me wonder whether cancer rates for infants were lower before industrialization.
What about this story makes you wonder that?
It's probably the fact we're all more connected now, but it really feels like more and more people are getting all sorts of cancers and at younger and younger ages too. I can't say it's a fact (and it probably isn't) but it sure feels like it sometimes... Then again when one of your close relatives is suffering from one you get to see plenty of cancer wards, and the ages of some of the patients you see there waiting are just... heart-breaking.
Imagine fighting for your life for just over half of it.
It might be more of a case of cancer being detected earlier and better these days.
Unlikely. I doubt undetected cancer as early as in the first year of one's life wouldn't result in death some years afterwards, and by this point the cause of death would have been attributed to cancer, even back then. So early detection shouldn't factor in higher infant cancer rates.
It appears you're right about the rates rising:
Incidence Rates Over Time | CureSearch
Damn that cancer got fucking rekt.
$2 million in debt fucking christ this country is stupid
Would the odds of treating cancer be higher for somone so young? Aren't young growing humans really good at mending problems?
You never fully "beat" cancer, you merely go into remission and hope it doesn't come back -- which it could at any time.
I don't know how being a baby changes the chances of beating the disease into submission, not an expert by any means. I could see it going both ways, because at once you're a baby and you're growing so things are changing quick enough to patch over problems, but also you're a fragile baby being given powerful chemotherapy (poison) with the hope that the drugs kill enough of the cancer without killing you as well.
It's hard to answer because the types of cancer you're likely to get when you're a baby are different from those that you get when you're older. It also changes how much effort might go into saving one's life. For example, a 1 year who has been diagnosed will probably be given everything possible to save it's life but an 80 year old may just be given things to ease suffering rather than extend life.
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