Beautiful Bella
Bella was 4 1/2 years old in July 2007 when she became paralyzed overnight and eventually diagnosed with Stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma; a rare, aggressive childhood cancer.
While the doctors did not have much hope, gave her a few months to live and said that she would never walk again, they did have a treatment plan in place for her. Her treatment regimen consisted of surgery, 54 weeks of chemotherapy and 16 weeks of radiation to all 9 tumor sites. We had to travel to another city for the 16 weeks of radiation and being apart from our family and friends was very hard on us, especially for Bella and her little sister Rayna. But we made new friends and always kept our faith! To everyone's pleasant surprise Bella showed no evidence of disease only 7 weeks into her treatment plan! She continued with her plan and eventually regained use of her legs! She completed her 54 week regimen in August 2008 and started school.
Unfortunately only 8 short months later in April 2009, her cancer returned. This time in her brain. Again the doctors did not have much hope. We flew to New York City for a Phase 1 experimental trial that would hopefully give us a few more months with her. We would take all we could get. We spent a month in NYC and returned home in August 2009. I am extremely happy to tell you that today Feb. 2011, Bella is 8 years old and can walk, run, jump, and is cancer free! She is on a long term, low dose chemo maintenance plan. Her hair is growing back, she is in first grade and is a cheerleader for her school! While she suffers severe learning problems and other side effects from her treatments, we are extremely blessed and forever grateful to her doctors, prayer warriors and God for the gift and miracle of her life.
It is now my mission in life to help raise desperately needed funds for pediatric cancer research so that no other parent has to hear the words “Your child has cancer...” To read more about Bella please visit www.PrayforBella.com Thank you and God Bless you, Shannah Rodriguez-Torres