The family of Emily McKervey is looking to the Cochrane community to shower her with birthday wishes, letters and thoughtful cards to ring in her eighth birthday on June 22.
It's a milestone birthday for the Grade 2 Holy Spirit student, who is bravely facing treatment for craniopharyngioma – a rare benign tumour that behaves and is treated like cancer, recognized as a pediatric cancer even though it won't spread or behave like other cancers.
Craniopharyngioma is considered malignant due to regrowth rates, aggressive tendancies to reoccur, the location in the brain and the side effects it causes.
"It's been pretty tough because you don't know what's going to happen," said Emily's mom, Jocelyn, who is staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Memphis, TN while Emily undergoes proton radiation therapy at St. Jude Research Children's Hospital. "The goal is to stop the tumour from growing more, but there's always a chance it could come back and keep coming back."
It was last August that Emily fell off her bike and Jocelyn took her to Cochrane Urgent Care. The staff then directed the family to Alberta Children's Hospital and because Jocelyn had a 10-day-old infant with her, the doctors opted to conduct a CT Scan immediately, rather than have her wait with her infant for several hours.
By 2 a.m., the family learned that Emily had a mass in her brain and were sent home, only to return a few hours later to get an MRI.
Transferring care from the Children's Hospital to the Stollery in Edmonton, Emily underwent brain surgery in March – a cyst fenestration procedure to pop a hole in the cyst that was growing on her tumour, causing fluid to build up and blocking the ventricles in her brain.
Following the successful surgery, her medical team opted to accelerate her radiation plan as the placement of her tumour, up against her pituitary gland and optic nerves, was concerning.
Emily was successfully vetted by a committee to be sponsored to receive treatment at St. Jude's in Memphis – treatment in the form of proton radiation therapy, a more precise form of radiation currently not available in Canada.
"We got lucky ... St. Jude's is an absolutely fantastic facility," said Jocelyn, adding that Emily is now part of a study.
Emily, who flew down two weeks ago, will begin radiation treatment on June 17, five days each week for six weeks. Her checks will begin every three months post-radiation, reducing to every six months and annually for likely the remainder of her life.
Jocelyn said in all likelihood Emily will be on some type of hormone therapy and that each day will bring challenges with behavioural and cognitive issues resulting from the pressure on her brain.
Her team believes that Emily, who started having headaches at age three, was likely born with the brain tumour and had it not been for the bike accident last year, it could have gone undiscovered for another two to three years – when it would have most likely began impacting her vision.
"All of us were quite surprised," said Emily's grandmother, Erin Gale. Jocelyn is the oldest of Gale's five children. While Jocelyn, Emily and baby are in Memphis, Jocelyn's middle two children are staying with Gale – while their dad works up north.
"I think it would be nice to send her cards, maybe some notes or letters," said Gale, adding that the rest of the family is doing well and just hoping for the best.
To follow Emily's Journey on Facebook/Emily's War on Craniopharyngioma
Cards can be sent to:
Emily McKervey
Room 35
535 Alabama Ave
Memphis, TN
38105
