Girl battles rare brain tumor
Only 7 in world have been diagnosed
5:14 PM, Jun 19, 2012
MANITOWOC — A 14-month-old sweet-faced, easy-going Manitowoc girl is battling a rare brain tumor.
Ireland Gorman was diagnosed in March with pineal anlage brain tumor, only the seventh patient in the world believed to have received this diagnosis, said her mother, Corinne Gorman, during a phone interview from Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
The sixth case reported in English-language literature, that of a 5-month-old boy, was detailed in the June 2010 Journal of Neurosurgury: Pediatrics. The condition was first reported in a 9-year-old girl in 1989, said the article.
“It is likely that others have had the tumor and not been properly identified or reported. But there have only been six cases reported that we know of,” said Dr. Sean Lew, director of the neurosurgery epilepsy program at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
Ireland’s tumor “was in the middle of her brain surrounded by vital structures and very large given her young age,” said Lew, who performed surgery to remove it.
Pineal anlage tumors may resemble other pineal tumors in the brain but are clearly distinct; how that affects treatment and overall prognosis is still uncertain, according to the Journal of Neurosurgury: Pediatrics.
What is certain is that the potentially deadly tumor has introduced Ireland to the world of surgery and chemotherapy at too early an age. It has turned her family’s life upside down.
Condition
Ireland’s condition came to light in late February, when she began vomiting and seemed lethargic, Corinne said.
The first trip to the emergency room didn’t turn up anything, but a few days later, Ireland was unable to look at her mother.
“I called her pediatrician. I was crying and said she can’t even make eye contact with me. He told me to take her to the emergency room. When I brought her in, she was seizuring. They did a CT scan and she had a large mass in her brain, they told me. It wound up being about the size of my fist,” Corinne said.
“We were hit by truck,” she said of the news. “We were absolutely stunned when we were in the emergency room and they told us she had a brain tumor. My husband absolutely lost it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment