mccmarianne

Know Me

Like many of you cancer has touched my life. When I was 18 yrs old my dad was diagnosed with lung & throat cancer. He was an alcoholic for most of my life. Just before his diagnosis he went to detox and was able to stay sober for the last year of his life. I got to know what a wonderful, caring and giving man he was. I was able to forgive him. He passed away when I was 19 and it was pretty rough on me. What added to the trauma of losing my dad at a young age was when my grand father passed away the very next day.

Fast forward to Oct. of “94” I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter. A year prior my husbands sister gave birth to her daughter when she was 26 weeks along. She had a very large tumor called a sacrocoxcygeal teratoma, A tumor that grows off the base of the tail bone. Because of this my Dr. did an advanced ultra sound early in my pregnancy. This type of tumor never runs in the family but they wanted to be cautious. Ultra sound came back normal. At my 7 month check up there was something wrong. The babies heart beat was way too fast. They sent me for ultra sound, sat me down and my dr informed my our daughter had a tumor on her tailbone. From that point I was at the hospital every week for ultra sounds. She never showed another sign of being in danger. I think that was God’s way of letting us know something was wrong. From that point on I was on bed rest. On November 15th I had a c-section and welcomed our sweet little Lauren to the world. At one day old they removed her tumor at Boston Children’s hospital. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit! She came home soon after but we returned a few times for a few shorts stays. She was watch very closely due to the fact that they were not able to remove a margin because it could leave nerve damage and possibly leave her un able to walk. Every 1.5 – 3 months for the first yr of her life she had exams and MRI’s. One March 7th 1996 they informed us they felt a growth returning and felt at tht time it was canc