Marlayna C. - Quilt Finished in 2007
Born: April 20, 2004
Illness: Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma, Hydrocephalus
Marlayna's Story
written by mom Marlo in 2007
Our beautiful little girl entered the world on April 20th, 2004 in Atlanta, GA. My pregnancy was a normal full term pregnancy, and Marlayna had no problems at birth.
During the first year of life, she had chronic ear infections which was treated with ear tubes. After receiving the ear tubes, she was the picture of health.
At age 1, Marlayna began to develop strabismus in her eyes, in other words her eyes wandered to the outside of the eye. The strabismus was worse in the left eye; thus, the vision in that eye was not as strong. Right after her 2nd birthday she had eye surgery to correct the eye muscle problem.
After her eye surgery, the left eye went from turning out to turning in, and the vision in that eye began to decline. Between June 2006 and December 2006, we tried patching the good eye and wearing glasses. Thus, in December we were contemplating a second surgery on her eyes.
During December 2006, she began to exhibit some odd symptoms. She was running low grade fevers, vomiting, and exhibiting extreme lethargy. By January 1st, 2007, she was losing her sense of balance and began to walk funny.
While we were visiting Marlayna's grandparents in Mississippi, I took her to the local pediatrician. She could not find anything wrong with her through the normal bloodwork, but encouraged us to get a cat scan. This would lead to the diagnosis of a brain tumor on January 2nd, 2007. We were sent directly to the University Medical Center in Jackson, MS and admitted into the hospital immediately.
Dr. Andrew Parent was her neurosurgeon. He gave us a worst case scenario diagnosis. Her tumor was rather large and would require an extremely dangerous 9 hour brain surgery. On January 5th, 2007, Dr. Parent was able to remove 55-60% of the tumor. It would be a week later when we received the news that the tumor was a benign Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma. While the tumor was benign, a chemotherapy regiment of 12-18 months was recommended to treat the remaining tumor.
On January 17th, she had a second surgery to place a VP Shunt in her brain. Due to damage from the tumor, the hydrocephalus had not corrected itself. Marlayna would need this shunt for her brain to drain fluid properly.
After the placement of a chemo port via surgery and having an initial chemo treat in the hospital, we were discharged from the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, part of the University Medical Center in Jackson, MS on January 26th, 2007 after 24 days in the hospital.
Marlayna would continue to receive her chemo treatment in Mississippi through March 12th, 2007. During this time, she had two brief stays in the hospital.
On March 19th, we returned home to Atlanta, GA. She continues to receive chemotherapy at Egleston AFLAC Cancer Center. She is under the care of Dr. Anna Janss, her neuro-oncologist. The current treatment protocol calls for another 14-17 months of chemotherapy.
She is doing well, with the exception of a loss of appetite and low body weight. At this point, the doctors are pleased with her progress.
