For every procedure Hallie Barnard has undergone at MD Anderson, she receives a bead. The yellow ones symbolize each night in the hospital. The ones that glow in the dark represent radiology appointments.
Their studies indicate 1 in 285 children will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday and that cancer is the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 4 and 14 in the country.Regardless, she said, childhood cancer research is underfunded. Less than 4 percent of the federal budget for cancer research is dedicated to its study, according to the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, a national nonprofit.
Elyse said her daughter did not seem to be growing normally or hitting milestones at the right time during her first year of life. Blood transfusions and steroids can be used to manage symptoms, but both take a toll on the body, Elyse said.“There’s just a 1 percent chance of finding a match for bone marrow transplants,” Hallie said.
She was in the hospital for 60 days, kept in isolation for the duration to protect her fragile immune system, which was wiped out by chemo.“You basically do a happy dance, because you have a new immune system,” she said. “We thought we were in the clear.”“I started getting horrible pains in my leg,” she said. “We found a small bump, the size of a mosquito bite.”
“We wanted to get a second opinion,” Hallie said. “Our doctor said, ‘I studied under this amazing woman, Dr. Lewis. Y’all should go to MD Anderson.’” Hallie chose rotationplasty. Surgery was scheduled for late June 2019, and she had chemo before and after surgery.