Make A Child Smile

Jessica's Story
written by mom Amy

Jessica Michaela was born on September 20, 1994. She was perfect and developing as any "normal" child would. Her life began to change in the year 2001. This 6 year old started experiencing headaches, blurred vision, vomiting in the morning, and low-grade fevers that went away with medication. She was diagnosed with food allergies, migraines, and last anxiety/depression. None of these were the correct diagnosis. Finally on Monday, October 29, 2001; after completing a 5 mile Making Strides (how appropriate) Breast Cancer Walk the day before, in Honor of my Mother and others; Cincinnati Children's Hospital gave us the correct diagnosis which was a "Brain Tumor". We weren't sure what type of tumor we were dealing with, but her neurosurgeon, Dr. Myseros, was pretty sure we were dealing with a rare malignant tumor called an "Ependymoma".

On October 31, 2001, Jessica never fully came out of her sedation from getting a MRI. They had to put a shunt in her head in the ICU room because there wasn't much time. We were losing her quickly. She was also put on a ventilator. What a frightening site to see your child hooked up to so many machines that were working for her to keep her alive. She finally got to be taken off the ventilator and she held my hand and told me, "Mom, I'm not mad at you. I Love You. Also, I want to tell you that Jesus said my work here on Earth isn't finished yet." With that in my mind, I knew her brain surgery was going to go okay and I was correct. There weren't any complications. The whole tumor was removed and she could still walk and talk!!! Dr. Myseros was correct on the type of tumor. It was an Ependymoma. We then began radiation to kill off any remaining cells, which went really well.

Jessica was doing well and just got a clean bill of health from her oncologist Dr. Wagner in August 2003. But the month of September changed. She was having back pain. Kidney infection and arthritis were ruled out. Five days after Jess turned 9 (September 25th) our nightmare begin again. The MRI scan revealed new growth of tumor near her spinal cord. She knew her cancer had come back before we could even tell her. She reminded me that her work here on Earth still wasn't completed. Again, another successful surgery in which Dr. Myseros removed the whole tumor and Jess didn't have any problems with walking. What a Christmas present on December 18th, 2003. We did have a long 5 months with chemo and its terrible side effects along with a port and c-line that weren't cooperative most of the time.

Jessica made it to March 9, 2006 when doing a routine MRI, they found a small spot which turned out to be yet another reoccurrence. This spot was inoperable and our only option was to do Radiostatic Radiation Surgery.

That was just one very big dose, but very precise to hit just that area. She did well with that treatment until August of 06 when she was having difficulty seeing. This MRI showed that her brain was swelling which is a result from that radiation. We got the swelling down, but not without having a massive doses of steroids. She started having a bad reaction to the steroids which took her out of school and into a hospital bed at home. With 4 months of recovery at home and then off of steroids, Jessica started back to school and trying to be a kid again.

We had 2 more good routine scans when this August 22, 2007 another spot showed up again in her spine. This child isn't able to catch a break in 7 years. This spot we are able to get to and get a biopsy on before we decide on what treatment will be best for her. We are very fortunate that she isn't showing any signs/symptoms. We then have a better chance on fighting this again since it isn't affecting her body system yet. She had surgery on October 2nd, 2007.

Jessica remains as positive as she possibly can. She tries to stay busy so that she doesn't have to think about it and really enjoys starting/going to Middle school. Her saying goes "The Man Upstairs has a plan for each and everyone of us. I'm just a part of His bigger plan."

Abilities:

See: Yes, but wears glasses.
Hear: Yes.
Talk: Yes.
Walk: Yes, but has a limp because one leg is now shorter than the other.
Read: Yes.
Use hands: Yes.

Siblings:
half brother Zachary, age 17
sister Clara, age 9

Child's Interests:
Jessica likes quilting, arts & crafts, drawing, coloring, horseback riding, animals in general (our Dr. Dolittle), crocheting, collecting American Girl dolls, Country music (Kenny Chesney), Christian music, Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Touched by an Angel, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Full House and Webkinz.

Sibling's Interests:
Zachary likes video games, skateboarding, horseback riding, scary movies, sports.. football and basketball.

Clara likes American Girl dolls, High School Musical, basketball, swimming, arts & crafts, Webkinz, likes to pretend playing school, singing, Barbies, enjoys animals, coloring and word find.

Click HERE for recent updates on Jessica
(use the "Search" box on the sidebar of that page
to find updates on this particular child)