Brittani’s Journey with Giant Cell Tumor of the Cervical Spine

After an MRI and surgical biopsy in Julio of 2009, Brittani was diagnosed with Giant Cell Tumor of the Cervical Spine. As you can imagine, this was devastating for our family. We were, however, ready and willing to fight for our daughter’s life.

Febrero de 2013
Escrito por Marilyn Simon, en nombre de su hija Brittani

In the spring of 2009, my daughter started having mild back pain. We brought her to our pediatrician who thought she was overexerting herself in basketball and told us to give her Motrin to see if the pain would go away. The pain did not go away and became more severe and persistent. We made several trips to our pediatrician and x rays showed nothing. My daughter then started experiencing numbness in her arms and hands. After an MRI and surgical biopsy in Julio of 2009, Brittani was diagnosed with Giant Cell Tumor of the Cervical Spine. As you can imagine, this was devastating for our family. We were however ready and willing to fight for our daughter’s life.

My daughter went through 6 painful surgeries, only to have the tumor grow back even more aggressively again. In Noviembre of 2009, Brittani started a 4 month period of chemotherapy treatment, during which she lost 40 pounds. After chemotherapy, the tumor grew back immediately and aggressively. Brittani started losing her ability to walk this time and her pain increased even more.

While researching online, we found a clinical trial in Los Angeles, CA that was having some amazing results with the type of tumor that Brittani had. I decided to take my daughter immediately to Los Angeles to see if she would qualify for the study. While there, they told us about a wonderful organization, Lazarex Cancer Foundation, which provided assistance to patients participating in clinical trials. I contacted them immediately and told them about my daughter. It brings tears to my eyes just remembering how compassionate and understanding they were. They were there for us when we thought there was no hope. We felt like everyone had given up.

We started the treatment and soon after we started to see the amazing results that the other participants experienced. My daughter was no longer experiencing the severe pain that she had experienced for the year prior to the study. She immediately began regaining her ability to hold objects and to walk. After 6 months, the tumor could not be seen on the CT scan! My daughter was able to start going to school again in the fall of 2010.

Brittani está ahora en el décimo grado y espera ir a la universidad en 2 años. Le gustaría ser médico. Sigue con los tratamientos de denosumab. Hacemos viajes a Los Ángeles cada mes y seguimos participando en el estudio de prueba. No hay rastro del tumor en numerosas tomografías. Tiene infecciones y sarpullidos ocasionales, pero no tiene dolor, entumecimiento ni pérdida de movimiento en ninguna parte. Todos sus médicos están muy impresionados con los resultados. Seguimos dando gracias a Dios cada día por la ayuda y el apoyo de la Fundación contra el Cáncer Lazarex.

Actualización: mayo de 2017

Brittani está cursando su segundo año de universidad. En 2015 fue declarada libre de cáncer y el medicamento del ensayo clínico que recibió fue aprobado por la FDA!

Actualización de junio de 2021