In the fall of 2003 Madelyn was an active 2 year old girl that could not wait until her 3rd birthday was here. After 2 weeks of being treated for an upper respiratory infection and not seeing any change, we were sent to Middletown Hospital for a routine x-ray to rule out pneumonia. From the look on the nurses face I could tell that something was seriously wrong with our little girl. We went immediately down to Cincinnati Children's Hospital to get a CAT scan to figure out what was wrong.

Monday, October 6, 2003 we were admitted to Children's Hospital and sent to the ICU floor. On Wednesday, October 8th Maddie had her first of many surgeries and we were told the news that no parent should hear. Madelyn's chest was full of some sort of cancer that had erupted and at that point could be anywhere in her little body. She had 1/3 of her right lung removed and had a central line placed due to the apparent chemotherapy treatments which lay ahead. Maddie was finally diagnosed with Pleuropulmonary Blastoma (PPB) which is a rare childhood cancer that attaches to the lung. With me having had a childhood cancer called Wilms Tumor when I was 4 years old, we were fortunate enough to have the same wonderful doctor that I continued to see take Maddie's case.

From the start we knew that the road ahead was going to be difficult but once we got into the treatments no one could prepare us for the ups and downs which you go through. The "PLAN" was to have 12 rounds of chemotherapy and 12 days of radiation. It amazed me how nothing seemed to go by the "PLAN." In November, after Maddie's second round of chemo we were admitted to the hospital for a high fever and extremely low blood counts. During this stay Maddie had a chemotherapy induced seizure which only happens to a small percentage of children. Due to the intensity of the seizure we were taken to the ICU to be monitored. A feeding tube was also placed in Maddie's nose that went directly into her stomach due to the weight she continued to lose.

In December after a routine ECHO/EKG test she was diagnosed with Coarctation of the Aorta. On December 8th Maddie had a heart procedure which helped open up her artery because of its limited size. After her December chemo treatment we were admitted at 3am on Christmas morning due to another high fever. In January things continued not to follow the "PLAN." After her January treatments and once again being admitted for a fever and low counts, we realized if we did not lower the dosage of the chemotherapy treatments Maddie was not going to survive. We were hospitalized for 3 1/2 weeks and our doctor decided to lower her dosage to 50% due to the damage it was doing to her little body. In March she had 12 rounds of radiation that required her to be sedated for 12 straight days to receive her treatments.

At the end of March, during a routine scan we were told something was growing in the same location of the lung where the original cancer was thought to have developed. After a failed attempt to get a sample from a biopsy the decision was made to go in and remove the growth through surgery. One week after Madelyn's baby sister Emma was born she had surgery. Due to our prayers being answered, it was not a recurrence of the cancer, just irritated scar tissue from the radiation treatments. Madelyn finished her last round of treatment in September of 2004. We all learned early on that Madelyn was not going to follow anyone else's "PLAN" but her own. Courage,determination, and a lot of prayers is what got Maddie through that year.

In June of 2007 Madelyn had been blessed with having been off treatment for over 2 1/2 years and was feeling great. She was enjoying her summer break and looking forward to starting her 1st grade year of school. With scans now being scheduled every 4 months since we had hit what we thought was the magic number of 2 years off of treatment, we received the news that we thought we would never have to hear. On June 19th, 2 days after our annual "Relay for Life" event during her routine scans we were told that something was growing where the original tumor had started. She once again had surgery which confirmed that the original cancer had reoccurred. Maddie's "PLAN" is to have 4 rounds of chemotherapy, 23 days of radiation, and a stem cell transplant that will keep her in the hospital for at least 4-6 weeks straight. We learned from the first treatment that Maddie only follows her own "PLAN." What we do know is that Maddie is a amazing little girl and with her strength and a lot of prayers she will make it through this and be CANCER FREE!