Emily K. - Quilt Finished in 2005

Born: May 12, 1999

Illness: Wilms Tumor Stage 1

A Thank you from Emily's Family!

Written July 31, 2005

Today Emily recieved her quilt that was made for her through Love Quilts. It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Each square came from different people around the world. I sure wish that I was able to get a list of those people so I could send them all a thank you card. So much love in that quilt.  It is even more amazing then pictures could ever give it credit for. Emily is just so happy about it. It also came with 2 pillows. She was ready to snuggle up in it right away. Of course the fact that it is 112 degrees outside made her decide to wait til it was cooler. LOL!!

Emily K.'s Story

written by mom Angela

Emily was born on May 12, 1999 in Phoenix, Az. She was a healthy 7lbs 13ozs. With a full head of dark hair. She was a very happy and healthy baby. There were no initial signs of illness until Oct. 6, 2003 at 4 1/2 years old. I was getting her dressed to go to daycare and I noticed that her right side stuck out and was hard. Emily complained of nothing.

She had no pain, but knowing this wasn't right I took her to the emergency room. They ran lots of tests. It wasn't until they did an ultrasound that they found a large mass near her kidney. They then admitted her to the hospital. The next day they told me they were almost positive that she had Wilms Tumor. I had never heard of that before. They told me it was a form of cancer. They said they would be able to tell me more once they did surgery to remove it. She had surgery on Oct 9 to remove the 3lb tumor and her kidney. It was confirmed at that time it was cancer. They then gave her a 90% survival rate.

She recovered well from the surgery and went through 18 weeks of chemotherapy. Feb 12, 2004 was her last treatment. She was doing so well. We went for a chest x-ray every month to be sure nothing was coming back. June 18, 2004, at 5 years old, Emily was having difficulty breathing. I got scared and took her to the emergency room. That is where they told me that she had mass in her right lung. The mass had taken over her whole right lung. They were certain that the cancer had come back. We were admitted to the hospital once again. On June 21 she went into surgery for a biopsy. They wanted to be sure that it was the Wilms Tumor relapsing. It indeed was. At this time they gave her a 50% survival rate. She had a very difficult time recovering from surgery this time. She was put on a ventilator and remained on it for the next 2 weeks. They tried to take her off of it 3 times but the first 2 times were unsuccessful. She struggled alot. The third time it worked.

We got out of the PICU a few days later and went to the pediatrics floor. We spent a total of 3 weeks in the hospital. She started intense chemotherapy immediatly after surgery. Then a couple weeks later after coming off the ventilator she started radiation. She had 18 rounds of radiation. She is enduring a long process with the chemo. She gets chemo for 5 days straight for 3 hours a day every 5 weeks. On the in between of those treatments she goes to the doctor once a week for smaller chemo drugs and blood count checks. They are unable to remove the tumor from her lung due to too much risk involved. They are trying to shrink it and kill the cancer cells. She is currently undergoing treatment still. She is going to kindergarten and trying to be a normal child through all of this. She is a very strong little girl and she is fighting hard.

Written by Emily's mom Angela