Giani M. - Quilt Finished in 2007

Born: March 20, 1998

Illness: Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor

A Thank-You from Giani's Family!

Written on June 22, 2007

Good Afternoon,

This is Giani Mother Ms. Keesha.  We recieved the Quilt. I think it's very nice of you and all the others doing that for her.  She loved it. The first things she seen was the soccer balls. She will enjoy it and I know she will not let anyone use it.

Once again Thank you.

Giani's Story

Written by Giani's mom Keesha in September 2006

Giani was born on March 20th, 1998, a beautiful, seemly healthy 7 pound 6 ounces precious girl.  Giani always slept through the night, hardly fussed about anything, and was a very good eater.

Giani kept a big smile on her face.  If you looked at her, she would make you smile as well. Giani stands out because of her eyes, they are very big and pretty.  Giani is a very outspoken lady.  She will tell you what she likes and doesn't like. Giani loves soccer.  She stated to me that she wants to play soccer when everything gets done.  She also wants to be a Registered Nurse.  Everything she's going through, made up her mind that she wants to be a Nurse to help out, like they are helping her.

Giani has many sisters and brothers.  She is very close to all of them, but she doesn't get to see 3 of them because they live in New York, but Giani stays in touch with all of them.

Throughout her young life, Giani was/is extremely active, alert, silly, funny, loving and very smart.  She always amazed me with her style.  Giani was always a healthy young lady (or so I thought), and only minor sickness through her young life.  Then, everything started. Giani didn't have the major symptoms of her diagnosis.  She was 7 years old when all these things changed with her.  The only thing that I noticed was her eyes and weight loss.  Her regular doctor told me that she was anemic, so that is where her weight loss began.  So I started her on Pediasure, but she didn't like it.

I noticed that her eyes were yellow... yellow jaundice.  The yellow jaundice was very bad.  You get yellow jaundice when the bile in your body doesn't drain properly.  I called her doctor and they told me that they could see her, but not until 8:00pm that night.  I was like "NO"!!  Then I took her to the emergency room in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 8th, 2006.  They immediately started running tests on her. They gave her a CT Scan and blood work.  When the CT Scan came back they told me they found a large mass in her liver.

I asked the doctor in the emergency room department, what was that huge bulge on her left side.  He told me that we needed to be transferred to Children's Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina.  We went by ambulance because they was worried about the mass.  I was so scared and I was crying very hard.

I met with her doctor who was going to take care of her, on March 9th 2006.  He was going to run some more tests on her, biopsies, etc...  On March 10th, 2006, Giani went for her first surgery.  It was a biopsy of the liver.  After the biopsy test, they came out and told me that Giani had cancer.  I hit the floor... I was crying.  I was very hurt and in so much pain.

Giani was diagnosed with Liver Cancer on March 10th, 2006.  Her doctor mentioned that he didn't know what type of Liver Cancer it was.  Giani went through many tests and when they finished, she had Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor (PNET) which is a soft tissue sarcoma.

Giani started intensive chemotherapy and it actually improved her life.  The CT Scan showed that the tumors started to shrink and she began acting more like herself.  She has tolerated the chemotherapy very well.  She has had little side affective, but nothing very bad.

Giani will be scheduled for surgery soon.  The date hasn't been determined yet.  She did have another CT Scan on July 25th, 2006 and they stated that the tumors are getting smaller.  I'm just waiting for the doctor to make a decision if they can do surgery or not.

Giani has always been a fighter and will continue to be a fighter.  She is a very strong little girl.  We've been truly blessed to have a beautiful, remarkable daughter.  She's so blessed for being surrounded by great groups of people who love her dearly.  Giani is getting prayed for a lot and I keep telling everyone to continue to pray for her.  Giani truly is a gift from God!