|  Dena’s son, Billy Jr was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in July 2008 when he was only 13 months old. While on vacation Dena and Billy noticed something was not quite right with their son. They cut their family’s vacation short and brought Billy to his doctor. The doctor did not find anything amiss, but Billy’s parents were not satisfied. They took Billy to the hospital and were told that he had pneumonia and that one of his lungs had collapsed. After further testing, Billy was diagnosed with Stage 3 Intermediate Risk Neuroblastoma, which after relapse this March was changed to Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma.
Since diagnosis Billy has endured countless procedures including CT scans, bone marrow biopsies, MIBG scans, X-rays, MRIs, ten rounds of chemotherapy, four surgeries, three central line placements, PICC line placement, eight chest tubes, blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, stem cell harvesting and through this all Billy amazes us with his strength and courage. In March of 2009, after his six-month scan, we learned that Billy’s cancer has returned and the family is battling this disease again. To learn more about Baby Billy, please visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/babybilly Having lived through the highs and lows of this disease for over a year now, Dena and Billy realized the lack of awareness and funding of NEUROBLASTOMA and in August of 2009 they founded the Not-for-Profit Corporation Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation. Their hope and their dreams are to bring awareness to the often unheard of childhood cancer, NEUROBLASTOMA, to raise funds for the underfunded childhood cancers and to be part of someday finding a cure. |
