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

After an MRI and surgical biopsy in 七月 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.

2013年2月
作者：玛丽莲-西蒙，代表她的女儿布列塔尼。

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 七月 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 11月 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.

布列塔尼现在是10年级学生，期待着两年后上大学。 她想成为一名医生。她继续接受地诺单抗治疗。我们每个月都会去洛杉矶，并继续参加试验研究。在多次CT扫描中没有发现肿瘤的迹象。她偶尔会有感染和皮疹，但没有疼痛、麻木或失去活动能力的地方。她的所有医生都对这一结果印象非常深刻。我们每天都在继续感谢上帝，感谢Lazarex癌症基金会的帮助和支持。

更新：2017年5月

布列塔尼正在上大学二年级。2015年，她被宣布无癌症，她接受的临床试验药物获得了美国食品和药物管理局的批准!

2021年6月更新