She had a similar tumor. We were involved with the Bismarck Relay for Life this year and Mia was the ambassador. I gave a speach telling Mia's story and the candle ceremony. I was told our story brought a lot of tears. Mia has also become the inspiration for Mary College's girls basketball team as they've adopted her. Mia has a lot of opportunity ahead of her to do these things and I hope she is willing. Here's the speech I gave at the Relay:
Our journey with Mia’s cancerous brain tumor began last spring with her developing headaches on an almost daily regularity. We consulted her pediatrician several times until we demanded a referral to see a Neurologist. We asked for an MRI with our first consultation, but the Neurologist chose to try using medication first. 6 weeks later the MRI was performed and we were rushed back to her office with the ominous news that the cause of our daughter’s headaches was indeed a brain tumor which damned up her brain fluids causing a condition called sephalitis. Immediately they arranged appointments at the Mayo clinic for the following Monday. Our world had just been turned upside down and we were consumed with worry. I remember thinking that all we had accomplished in our lives to date meant nothing if we were to lose our little, and we had no idea of our immediate future.
Our first meeting with the Neurologist at Mayo left us even more unsure about our daughter’s health. We were very worried. The next day we met with the Surgeon we were intrusting to save our daughter’s life. He had a confidence about him that put me at ease because he said that he would be able to remove the entire tumor and that Mia would require radiation treatment as well as chemotherapy as follow procedures. Dr. Wetjen asked a peculiar question at the time in that he said “How did you find this tumor?” Normally we catch these things in a much later stage. This is where a mother’s intuition cannot be measured, because Julie knew there was something wrong with Mia and would not accept the local doctor’s prognosis of children growing out of headaches. Because Julie pushed for the MRI, we were able to have the surgery prior to the tumor becoming larger and growing into the spinal cord. At the time of surgery the tumor was the size of a golf ball, but the early detection would prove to be invaluable.
Surgery was set for a Friday, one week after the first MRI. Julie and I sat in the ICU room for twelve hours while our precious little girl was being operated on. It was the longest day of our lives. When Mia finally arrived back at the room she had a 10 inch incision on the back of her head which instantly brought tears to each of us. The next 10 days were really difficult because Mia was weak and could barely stand. Each day she got a little stronger and we were allowed to come home for two weeks.
The next leg of the journey involved radiation and chemo. At this point Julie and I had a decision to make about what we were going to about the care of our other children, absence from work, and maintaining our responsibilities as homeowners and citizens. We decided to split up in that I would stay here with Grace and Hannah; and Julie would go back with Mia to Mayo for the extensive 7 weeks of radiation and chemo treatments. We relied heavily on the kindness of our friends, family, coworkers, and the Corpus Christi parish to lean on at our greatest time of need. Truthfully, when I think back on August and September of 2010 – I come up with a real blur, and to this day have no idea how we made it through that trying period.
In November, Mia began her extensive chemo treatments but luckily we were able to do this locally at Medcenter One. Mia has really handled the chemo well physically, but it has taken a toll on her emotionally. She goes through some sad times about not being able to do what normal girls her age do. We try to explain that she is a normal girl but has had something bad happen to her, but the good news is that we are fixing it. Mia has completed 8 of her 9 scheduled rounds of chemo and will be done in a couple weeks. In October we once again will travel back to Mayo for another MRI. For the next five years, she will have regular MRI’s and blood testing to ensure that she remains cancer free.
At this time we would like to take the opportunity to thank our families, friends, co-workers, Corpus Christi parish, Relay for Life, Make a Wish Foundation, the team of doctors at Mayo and Medcenter One, and everyone who prayed for us and encouraged us through our carringbridge website. Although we walked through the day to day battle for Mia’s health alone as a family; we recognize the abundance of love and thoughtfulness sent to us through prayer and kindness. There’s a cliché that it takes a village to raise a child, but when a child develops cancer it takes a real special group of villagers to ensure that child’s development. We stand here among very special people and we thank all of you. I would also like to thank all of you that have paved the road to the treatment of cancer, people that have lost loved ones to cancer, and those of you that have survived a battle with cancer. Without all of your sacrifices, we would not be in the position we are in right now.
I would like to thank my wife Julie, for being overprotective and loving to the point of smothering our children. She is everything I am not in that aspect, and we have a daughter on the road to recovery because of her love. I want to thank my daughter Hannah for being the best big sister ever. Since the day the twins arrived in our lives, you have been there to take care of them even when they are mean to you. I’d like to thank my daughter Grace for growing up leaps and bounds from last year. Hannah and Grace, you have both sacrificed so much this year as Mom and I have turned most of our attention to Mia.
And last but certainly not least, our ambassador Mia. Thank you for going through all these treatments with a smile and not complaining. You truly are a little fighter. You need not ever wish that you could be like all the other normal kids, because you are an extraordinary kid. We all wish we could be more like you. You have made our family stronger than your Mom and I ever dreamed possible.