Christina Mulhern Update – It’s Official - No Chemo or Radiation Required!

Dear Family and Friends –

Today we met with Christina’s oncologist and heard the news that we have been waiting for – Christina’s post-operation protocol will not include any chemotherapy or radiation! Her oncologist, Dr. Wood, reviewed all of the good news that had been previously reported: the tumor was found early, it was completely removed, it hadn’t spread into the bone or bone marrow, and it was “non-amplified” (had not reached an aggressive growth state). Dr. Wood classified the tumor as a “stage one malignant neuroblastoma with a favorable histology” (histology involves the study of tissue).

All of this information adds up to more good news: there is only a miniscule chance that the cancer will ever form anywhere else in her body other than the area where the first tumor formed, and the chance of it forming in the same place again is very small. Christina’s protocol from here will be regular checkups for the next year or so to monitor the area behind her left lung to assure that the cancer doesn’t attempt to come back. She will have another MRI near the end of May.

Thank you for all of your prayers -- they sustained Christina and our whole family through this difficult time and made all of this great news a reality!

Christina continues to demonstrate Horner’s Syndrome due to having lost part of a nerve when the neuroblastoma was removed (it had formed itself on the nerve). The manifestations of Horner’s Syndrome (which is a rare condition caused by nerve damage) are a drooping upper eyelid (in her case, it involves the left side of her face), limited sweating, limited “flushing”, and a consistently restricted pupil. There is no specific treatment for Horner’s Syndrome, and our hope is that the nerve will eventually regenerate itself. Dr. Wood seems to believe that Christina will always have some symptoms of the syndrome. We are hoping and praying, of course, for a complete recovery of the nerve.

We have updated the pictures on Christina’s web page (www.ChristinaMulhern.com), but it’s hard to see the differences in her eyes in most of them because, when Christina is smiling, she naturally squints and the eyes look roughly the same. We will get another picture on there sometime soon if we can ever get her to stop smiling! As you can see by the photos, Christina is very happy these days! She is even smiling in the picture which shows the big incision on her back.

Thank you again for all of your prayers and love. We will be forever grateful for your care and concern over the past month. The worst is behind Christina now, thanks to God’s grace brought on by your fervent prayers!

PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO SEND CHRISTINA A NOTE ON HER WEB SITE. CHRISTINA WILL TREASURE THOSE NOTES SOME DAY WHEN SHE IS OLD ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE BODY OF CHRIST CAME TO HER RESCUE IN HER TIME OF GREAT NEED!

Thanks again with all of our love,

Tina, Bob, John Paul, Thomas Mary Clare, Catherine, Sarah, Joseph, Michael and Christina

March 3, 2007

Dear Family and Friends:

Christina’s amazing (thanks to all of your prayers!) two-week assault on cancer ended with a barrage of good news. First, her high fever disappeared within 30 minutes after we sent an e-mail asking for your prayers. Next, we received a call from Christina’s surgeon that the national testing laboratory concluded (in almost record time) that the tumor was “not amplified” (the most favorable rating) so chemotherapy will most likely not be necessary. Finally, Christina is home! We have so many reasons to rejoice!

Christina is so excited to be home with her family and seems to be more full of life since returning to familiar surroundings. Her left eyelid is still “droopy” looking, and only time will tell if the nerve that controls that eye will be able to repair itself. But given all the wonderful news of this past week, that is the least of our worries!

We can't thank you enough for the love you showed Christina and our family through your prayers, calls, support, words of encouragement, e-mails, service, meals, etc… we are grateful! We are going to ask for your continued prayers for Christina’s eye, and that her follow up tests over the next number of months will go well.

Since Christina is too young to have any lasting memories of this event -- where a dangerous form of cancer was overwhelmed by the awesome grace of God -- we are hoping that you will let her know how you prayed for her and / or how her successful battle against this awful tumor impacted you or someone that you know. We will assemble a scrapbook for Christina with all of your notes and stories that you send us so that she can have it for the rest of her life.

With all of our love,

Tina, Bob and all the Mulhern kids