Kate McRae~Amazing

Monday June 29th, 2009 was supposed to be a day filled with summer fun. The kids and I were going to the water park to celebrate summer. However, I noticed that a slight tremor in her right hand that she developed over the past 2-3 days had notably worsened. We decided to take her to her Pediatrician, just for safe measure. Her Dr decided to get a CT of Kate's head, to rule anything out. We proceeded to Phoenix Childrens Hospital for a stat CT of her head. At 5:30 I, Holly, Kate's mom, was taken into a room alone and told Kate had a massive tumor on the basil ganglia portion of her brain. The world stopped for us that day. I called her dad and through sobs told him to come to the hospital quickly. Our journey had begun. Kate was directly admitted to the PICU. One minute thoughts of the water park the next our child is critically ill in the PICU. We would have never chosen to be a part of this journey with childhood cancer, but it was chosen for us, and our sweet Kate. She is now in the Phoneix Children's Hospital undergoing treatment for this disease.

Kate underwent a craniotomy with tumor resection on July 3rd, 2009. They unfortunately were only able to remove 50% of the tumor due to it's location in the left temporal lobe of her brain and the fact that the tumor had wrapped itself around major blood vessels to her brain. Kate experienced right sided paralysis immediately following surgery. She has since regained much of this, however right sided weakness still continues.

After a few days of waiting the pathology report was in, Kate was diagnosed with a very malignant, aggressive brain tumor called a supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor or sPNET. Our hearts were shattered. Dreams for our little 5 year old daughter put on hold to battle this monster. Long term prognosis and outcomes weren't encouraging so Kate has been put on a study that is showing a little more promising outcomes, hopefully a better chance at survival and less long term side effects. She is currently undergoing the Head Start 3 Study out of Los Angeles but doing it at Phoenix Children's Hospital. The study involves the initial brain surgery, 5 round of very intense chemotherapy with possibility of a subsequent brain surgery and then another round of chemo with a stem cell transplant. We are hoping to avoid radiation after transplant. Kate is also in physical therapy and occupational therapy and has been released from speech therapy.

We believe strongly in the power of prayer and the ability of Jesus to heal our precious daughter. Whether He does this through modern medicine or simply a divine touch, we aren't picky. We are asking others to join us on this journey and fervently pray for our Kate. The road is long and unbelievably hard. We have 3 children, all who are intensely affected. Olivia is now 7, Kate is 5 and Will is 4. Please keep all of us in your prayers as we try to walk this journey of childhood cancer. Thank you.

Kate will be going to Texas to begin radiation
Stay strong Kate

I OWN NOTHING!!
Pictures from Amanda at jandkplus8fans!

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[kvajay]

I could sit here for hours on end trying to figure out how to put the the thousands of things I want to say on here or wish I had the room to type the amount I would love type but the things off the top of my head that comes to mind is faith and strangth and I have been more than honored to have been able to read about the faith and strength your entire family has and the courage that your angle Katie has shown! I reach my hands high for you all and pray that god gives her a healthy 2nd chance!