Editor’s note: September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. On its website, The Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley, has been sharing stories each day of local pediatric cancer warriors through its “30 Days, 30 Stories” project. The following is one of those stories.

My daughter, Isabella, was diagnosed with steosarcoma (a type of bone cancer) in her left femur in August 2019 at 9 years old. Instead of heading to fourth grade, we headed to the hospital for her to begin chemo. We lived in the hospital for almost a year … but it felt a whole lot longer. During that time, Isabella had a total femur replacement and lots of physical therapy. We got through all of it with the help of our family, friends, and amazing organizations such as PCFLV.

Isabella ended treatment in May 2020 with clean margins and clear scans. We enjoyed our summer being able to be home. On Nov. 13, 2020, we went for six months scans to find out Isabella had relapsed. Not only was it back in her leg, but it had metastasized to her lungs. The prognosis wasn’t good. We began reaching out to other hospitals for opinions, as obviously we wanted to do whatever we could to save our little girl.

With the help of the osteosarcoma group on Facebook, we found Dr. Peter Anderson at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Next, we were scrambling to figure out how we were going to do this. PCFLV helped to make sure it happened. They helped us not only to have a place to stay while we were out there but also with gas and food cards for the trip.

Since December 2020, we have been traveling to Ohio to see Dr. A twice a month for chemo and scans. Isabella has had surgery to remove her lung metastases at the University of Michigan Hospital and has been doing very well. Our next goal is to remove what came back in her leg and try to get her back to no evidence of disease.

After her lung surgery, Isabella was supposed to start another type of infusion. Well, that infusion is on a worldwide shortage. With the help of another organization, we have reached out to hospitals around the world and the manufacturer in all different countries and nothing. It really blows my mind that this could even be a thing, and our children definitely deserve better. Because we were unable to get that medication, Isabella has started another one, and we all are hoping for the best.

We are extremely grateful to PCFLV and all the organizations that are out here fighting alongside of us making sure our kids matter and doing whatever they can to help make sure our children get the treatments that they need. Thank you for being here not only for our children, but for our families as well; grateful to each and every one of you!

Written by Isabella’s mom, Chastity

Please consider donating in Isabella’s honor to support PCFLV’s mission. Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley: www.pcflv.org

Please also consider helping local kids with cancer by donating blood at Miller-Keystone Blood Center: https://donor.giveapint.org/donor/schedules/centers