Lexie Bath's Story
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Lexie was diagnosed with a Follicular variant of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma on December 9, 2014 at 13 years old. Her mother first became concerned that something was wrong in August 2014 when Lexie moved her hair one morning over breakfast, and her mother, Daima, noticed a lump. Daima had Lexie turn her head and on the right bottom of her neck there was a lump about the size of a silver dollar.
The next day Daima called the doctor who got Lexie in right away and sent her for an ultrasound. The day after that they found out Lexie had a 2cm mass in her right thyroid lobe. They were sent to a general surgeon who performed a needle biopsy the following week in his office. A week after that the surgeon called with the news that the results were benign but the mass still needed to be removed due to it taking over her thyroid bed. They were referred to Children's Hospital Colorado in Denver. |
On November 4th they went to Denver for a consult where the surgeon said initially he wasn't too worried and thought they could wait until after school was out to remove it. That didn't sit well with Daima who had a weird feeling and knew in her heart the mass was growing.
Lexie's parents talked and decided to go ahead with the surgery sooner rather than later and to go with Daima's gut feeling. Lexie's surgery happened on December 4, 2014 and on December 9th Daima received the call from one of Lexie's surgeons telling her they got the final pathology back on the tumor. She then heard the words she thought she would never hear.... "Your daughter has cancer." Her parents then had the horrible task of telling Lexie about her diagnosis.
Since then Lexie has had two surgeries, eventually removing the rest of her thyroid due to another tumor. Plus 3 biopsies, labs every month and scans and ultrasounds every 3-6 months, plus tumor marker level checks every 3 months. She is also taking a thyroid hormone replacement every day.
Lexie was NED (No Evidence of Disease) status as of May 2016. She still has some lymph nodes the doctors are watching closely in her neck but they have continued to stay stable.
The treatment plan for Lexie was based off an adult treatment plan due to lack of research and data for pediatric thyroid cancer, even though they told her parents children's cancers act differently than adult cancers. This is why there is such a tremendous need for research. Lexie's parents thank the Olivia Caldwell Foundation for the work they tirelessly continue to do for all children fighting cancer and other lifelong diseases.
Lexie's parents talked and decided to go ahead with the surgery sooner rather than later and to go with Daima's gut feeling. Lexie's surgery happened on December 4, 2014 and on December 9th Daima received the call from one of Lexie's surgeons telling her they got the final pathology back on the tumor. She then heard the words she thought she would never hear.... "Your daughter has cancer." Her parents then had the horrible task of telling Lexie about her diagnosis.
Since then Lexie has had two surgeries, eventually removing the rest of her thyroid due to another tumor. Plus 3 biopsies, labs every month and scans and ultrasounds every 3-6 months, plus tumor marker level checks every 3 months. She is also taking a thyroid hormone replacement every day.
Lexie was NED (No Evidence of Disease) status as of May 2016. She still has some lymph nodes the doctors are watching closely in her neck but they have continued to stay stable.
The treatment plan for Lexie was based off an adult treatment plan due to lack of research and data for pediatric thyroid cancer, even though they told her parents children's cancers act differently than adult cancers. This is why there is such a tremendous need for research. Lexie's parents thank the Olivia Caldwell Foundation for the work they tirelessly continue to do for all children fighting cancer and other lifelong diseases.