On August 12, Olivia Rose was diagnosed with neuroblastoma which is a kind of cancer that affects primarily young children.  The tumor was in her abdomen and was resected 2 days later.  Thankfully, there was no sign of spread to other parts of her body.  We are hopeful that the cancer is gone and most likely Olivia will not need chemo or radiation for the cancer (we should know for sure in 1-2 weeks).

 

  Unfortunately, she is still battling with a complication of the cancer-- a rare problem called opsoclonus-myoclonus (for more info, see attached web site).  This affects about 2-3% of the children who have this type of cancer.  For Olivia, what this has meant is that she has jerky eye movements which she cannot control.  She also has severe balance problems and tremors which have left her unable to walk.  She is very irritable and cries a lot--we see she is very frustrated with her new limitations.  She is on 2 different medications to treat these symptoms and we've seen some improvement.

 

  In 2 weeks, we will consult with a national expert in Illinois and hope we may get some more advice about treating her and preventing long-term problems.

  We would be grateful for your prayers

Website link for opsoclonus-myoclonus http://www.omsusa.org/

 

 Maria Stanley (Veldman)

Olivia was born on Sep-02-2001

Parents Doug and Maria

This is the 105 great grand child for Opa and Oma

The 14th grand child for Ben and Florence