vents

February 2010

Event Recipients:

Ashley:

Ashley is a three-year old who was diagnosed with a Stage 3 Malignant Rhabdoid Tumor in 2008, shortly after her second birthday. At the time of her diagnosis, the tumor was sitting on her lung and wrapped around her spinal cord. Rhabdoid tumors are very rare but also aggressive and her odds of surviving until her third birthday were only 5-7% . She has been undergoing treatment since then and has fought hard to beat this terrible disease.

Sean:

Sean is a two-year old who was born with several health issues. Within his first year of life he was diagnosed with seizures and cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairments as well as an overall developmental delay. Shortly after turning one, he was diagnosed with Chromosome 18q-, an abnormality in which part of Chromosome 18 is missing. Little is known about this abnormality so Sean's future is unknown. He sees 17 doctors and attends many weekly therapies. His fight to just be a kid is a day to day struggle.

Jackson:

Jackson was born on September 14, 2009.He was born with Pierre Robin Sequence. His jaw born was underdeveloped, and his tongue is tethered to the bottom of his mouth. He was given a tracheotomy to breath and several attempts at feeding tubes, also finding two hernias that had to be repaired. He is unable to suck and cannot tolerate anything in his stomach, a new feeding tube was just put in. It is suspected that he has a cleft palate and he has failed all hearing tests. He spent 89 days in the NICU at Central Dupage Hospital after he was born and has had 3 major surgeries to date. There will be many more, He has had a metal rod put in his jaw that his parents had to tighten on both sides 3 times a day to help bring his jaw forward, in that surgery his jaw was broken to correct it. It is unknown the outcome of Jackson’s health, he is simply too young to tell and there is no one to compare him too..