8 Year Old Beats Rare Cancer, Undergoes Experimental Treatment at St. Jude - Stacy Case

A couple of years ago, a Tennessee mom and dad got the news no parent ever wants to hear. Their daughter had cancer, a tumor the size of a baseball, in her chest. The 8 year old is undergoing experimental treatment at St. Jude for a rare form of cancer that so far she's beating. Grinning from ear to ear, little 8 year old Audrey Stranger looks every bit like a little girl beating cancer. She's got her St. Jude cheerleaders to thank.I wasn't really keeping up at the gym with kids at school when we were running and stuff like that, says Audrey.The pediatrician took a really long time listening to her heart, lungs and heard a brushing sound, says Lynn Stanger. Which led to the xray.The problem was in her little lung. An inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, IMT for short.Really the thing that scared me more than anything was the size of it, says Marshall Stanger.It just shocked me to the core, says Lynn. That's impossible. She's a tiny kid, how can a baseball size tumor be in this child?7 hour surgery and left a 9 scar on her back, says Marshall. She was in the hospital for a while.Doctors back home in West Tennessee told them it probably wouldn't come back. The family celebrated with Mickey, but in just 2 months it was back, the size of a baseball again.I was really scared, says Audrey.It scared us pretty bad to see that it would grow that fast, says Marshall.Their local doctors sent them to the only place that could help, the children's research hospital that treats the sickest of the sick and takes the children everyone else has given up on. There were some long days and nights at the world renowned hospital. Instead of surgery, doctors opted for a ground-breaking protocol, an oral chemotherapy drug. The tumor is undetectable now.Something out of a movie or something, we're just so blessed they're giving us, says Marshall. Hey take this oral medicine twice a day like you would take benadryl or something and it's going to wipe out this baseball size tumor in your daughter and it's overwhelming. I can't describe to you how elated we are about how successful the treatment has been.Audrey has emerged a nearly healed 2nd grader. To celebrate this time, AC and the Tough Kids ran the St. Jude Country Music Marathon, raising $100,000 for this one of a kind hospital. Audrey will stay on the experimental drug for nearly a year as doctors treat her case with extreme caution. She told us she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. We told her she could teach us all a thing or 2 about living every day to the fullest and holding on to hope.

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• Category

  Pulmonary Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor