Julian was born February 12, 2000. He seemed to be a healthy baby, weighing in at 9lbs. 1 oz. and was delivered on time. He continued to grow, at 5 months he weighed 24lbs. Pretty big for a 5 month old! He was a very quiet and good baby. I just figured with 5 brother's and sister's that he didn't need to make much noise. He was very clingy though, loved to be held by everyone! Again, I just thought he was spoiled! He was also sick all the time. Constant ear infections and unexplained high fever's and strange blood test that did not explain anything. Julian stayed 24lbs, gaining and loosing an ounce or two here and there. Doctors told me not to worry, that he was just evening out his height and weight.

  I took Julian in for his 15 month check-up with a few concerns about his growth. He again weighed in at 24lbs. He was such a skinny baby at this point. The nurse also measured his head and noticed that it had not grown since birth. It was still 13cm. His pediatrician and I talked about these concerns and decided to do weekly weigh-in's to see if he would start growing. If after a month he hadn't grown, then we would start testing him. We never made it a month!

  Just 2 weeks later, we were spending a family day at the pool when the unthinkable happend. Julian had a near drowning accident. He was with his dad and oldest brother, then 12, in the jacuzzi. His dad dozed off and big brother got out of the jacuzzi and left him. I heard his 5 year old brother screaming for Julian. Julian was at the bottom of the jacuzzi! His dad got him out and he was not breathing. I started pumping his tummy which made him throwup the water. Thank God, my baby was alive! We took him to the hospital and his pediatrician thought that he had water in his left lung because of decreased breath sounds. He was also sobbing like a child that had been crying for a very long time. She took x-rays first which showed something in his left lung. I immediately started bawling...my mom had died from lung cancer and thats what it looked like to me. She reassured me that babies do not get lung cancer and that it could not be fluid because of where it was located. The mass appeared in the middle of his left lung. If it were fluid or a pneumonia, it would be in the bottom half or top half. So we went for a CT scan. That was the longest hour of my life, waiting for the results! I was well known at the hospital, with 6 kids I was in there every week, sometimes more than once. When the results came back, I knew something was seriously wrong just by the look on everyones faces that worked there. That walk down the hall to his pediatricians office seemed so long. My heart was racing and I had an awful pit in my stomach, all I could do was cling to my baby. She sat me down and tried to tell me(through her tears) that Julian had cancer. I was histerical! The only question I had at that time was 'Is my baby going to die?'. Her response was' I don't know'! Her diagnosis was Neuroblastoma, we weren't even sure what stage it was at. This was her first case of cancer that she had seen during her career. She quickly set him up with an appointment to an oncologist at the childrens hospital 2 hours away.

  We arrived at the children's hospital the next day and met his oncologist. Julians blood test showed no cancer. So the doctor decided to treat him with antibiotics for his diagnosis....pneumonia. We were completely confused, we saw the x-rays and the CT scan. We saw the mass! It was supposedly connected to his spine behind his left lung. But this doctor insisted that pnemonia can look like that. Over the next 20 weeks, Julian went through 10 different antibiotics to get rid of this 'pneumonia' and nothing had changed. He was very sick the whole time and more symptoms of this cancer started to present themselves. After we finished his last medication, I took him back to his pediatrician completely discusted with his oncologists treatment. She did another CT scan and told me that he needed the tumor removed now, that it couldn't wait. She put a call into the oncologist and told me that he would call me that day with an appointment. I waited for his call and it did not come. I called them the next morning and spoke to his nurse. This was a Thursday when I talked to her. She told me that the message from the doctor was that 'Julian needed a new CT scan, non-urgent, 2 months out!' I flipped out! I knew that this was not what his pediatrician had told him, I was sitting right there. I threatened a law suit if my son's life was shortened because of their misdiagnosis and what seemed to me to be, their uncarring way of handling a life threatening situation. She tried to calm me down and told me that she would talk to the doctor and call me right back. She did call back within 30 minutes and told me to be there in the morning.

  We went to the appointment and had another CT scan which proved that the mass was still there. I was immediately taken to a surgeons office where he preceded to tell me that Julian needed surgery right away, that if this was his child, it would have been removed 2 months ago. The surgeon was very upset and angry with the oncologist. His tumor had started to grow and change shape which is not a good sign. Julian was scheduled for surgery on Monday morning. Julians dad was 1300 miles away in California training with the U.S. Army. So with the doctors help and the Red Cross, we were able to get him back the night before surgery.

  Monday morning came and we were up before the the crack of dawn. It was such a sickening day! So scary! I didn't know what we had in store for us or what would happen to my poor lil' guy.

  Julian was prepped for surgery. He was such a good baby. He never ever cryed when they had to poke him with needles. Infact, he would hand them his arm. Nobody could believe how he was taking everything. It was like he knew he needed the help. We met the team of surgeons they asked us how we found his cancer. The surgeons had tears in their eyes and said that God must have a plan for this baby. Neuroblastoma is normally not caught so soon. I don't remember how long the surgery took, I just know that it seemed all day. They came to us with great news that it was all out and that they didn't leave any of it behind. The tumor was being sent for biopsy to see what kind it was I guess. His oncologist came into his room later that day with the results. It was Neuroblastoma stage 1. It was still incapsilated(it hadn't burst yet) and that is why it was not in his blood and urine or his lymph nodes. Thus meaning, NO Chemo or Radiation! YES!!! The surgeons did tell us though that if he had made it to his 2nd birthday without finding it, then it would have been too late. It was already showing signs of growth and possibly spreading. What a miricle!

  After surgery, Julian was a completely different baby! He was so active, which he never was before. He was jumping up and down in his crib with a chest tube when the surgeon walked in to check on him. The surgeon decided to remove the tube before he did more damage. Julian actually helped him pull it out, I was so amazed! I did not realize how much pain my baby was in because of this tumor and the pain he experienced from surgery didn't even compare. He was a trooper!

  Julian still returns for check-ups once a year now, but he has graduated to the survivors clinic. He has been cancer free for 5 1/2 years now.  It did not take Julian long to start growing. I could tell the difference in pictures taken just 2 weeks apart and he is all caught up now. You can't even tell that his growth was stunted for a short time. He does struggle with learning, but we are reassured that he will catch up.  My baby is a miricle!

  Thank you so much for being interested in him and taking the time to read about his story.

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