SAFE IN THE HANDS OF GOD

ANNA GRACE CASSON
JANUARY 25, 2004 - JANUARY 18, 2007

Anna's tumor has reccurred

We have had an exhausting week. We went to Birmingham, Dec. 8th for an end of treatment follow-up MRI and ended up having Anna admitted for surgery. Her tumor had come back and was putting pressure along the spinal cord. They took her into surgery as soon as possible to remove the pressure on her spine. She was in ICU for 48 hours following surgery and then moved to the regular oncology floor to begin a new round of chemo. She received chemo for 5 days and we were released to come home the following Friday. She is recovering from surgery like a champ. As well as enduring a different course of chemotherapy. We will remain at home through the holidays and return for her next chemo in January. After which her doctors have scheduled a CT Scan to study the tumors response to the new drugs and will then determine the next step of her treatment.

Please keep our family and Anna's team of doctors in your prayers.

We want to wish you all a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! We send you all our love! Thomas, Lorra, Anna and Drew (soon to be officially a Casson!)

Chemotherapy is complete!

It is so hard to believe that we have completed over a year of cheomotherapy. Anna is the strongest and bravest 2 year old I know. She came through with flying colors. She began having foot and leg pain between her last three treatments, so her doctors reduced her final dose of therapy. The pain was an expected side effect of her type of chemo, we just were fortunate enough to only experience it toward the end of treatment. She seems to be having no pain since we got home yesterday. We have seen blessing upon blessing this entire year. It has been so amazing to watch the hand of God touch and heal your child as well as so many others that are sick at Children's. His presence has been amazing. I can not say enough about how much all the prayers have meant that were sent up on our behalf. We could not have gotten through this journey without our loving friends, our supportive family and most of all The Almighty God.

We will continue to keep you updated as they continue to monitor Anna's progress throughout the following year. We send love and blessings to you all!

Anna has one treatment left and is so excited!!!!

We can not believe that this journey is almost complete. We are all so thrilled with Anna's progress. She is an amazing little girl. And the Lord has blessed us so much throughout this entire journey. He is an amazing, awesome and faithful God! We could not have gotten through this year without our faith. I have not written many posts lately, because things have not really changed. Anna is doing remarkable. Anna remains cancer free. She has one treatment left and will complete that treatment Nov. 3rd!!! And then we will celebrate! After that we will just have regular check-ups to monitor her. We also could not have gotten through all of this without the love, support and prayers of our friends and family. We thankyou all so much and wish you many, many blessings as the holiday season approaches. We send you all our love!! We will continue to write updates as she completes her treatment.

12 down only 5 more to go!

Just wanted to give a little update. We are counting the days until Anna is finished with treatment. She only has five more to go. We have two more five day treatments left (one of which we will complete this week) and three more one day treatments. The one day treatments are a breeze and she recovers so quickly from them too. Continue to keep us in your prayers that we will stay on schedule as well as continue staying healthy through the end of therapy. Thanks for all the prayers and support! We send lots of love to all!

The picture above is a recent one of Anna and Drew playing in a clothes basket.

Only 6 More to Go!

It is so hard to believe that Anna has only 6 more treatments left! We can see a light at the end of what once seemed like a very long tunnel. If things continue as scheduled we should complete her treatments the first week of November. Once she is finished with chemo, we will just return to Birmingham regularly for follow-up MRIs. (about every 6 months for a couple of years and then once a year). Just to make sure she continues to stay cancer free.

As always we thankyou all for thoughts and prayers that have been sent our way. We appreciate them so much.

I am putting together a scrapbook of this journey for Anna. I want her to see the faces of those in Birmingham who had a hand in her treatment. I am also going to print this blog and the comments to add in the scrapbook. So I just wanted to ask anyone who hasn't left a comment and would like to add something in her scrapbook to do so. I will continue adding to the blog and scrapbook until November and maybe longer to give further updates of her condition. I just want her as she grows up to see how much love and support we all received along this difficult journey. Thanks again for everything. We send our love!

A bump in the road

Anna was supposed to have a round of chemotherapy during the Memorial Day weekend. I guess she decided that she would rather be at home than in the hospital getting treatment, because when we got to Bham that morning they sent us home. She had gotten a virus and her white count had dropped to a level at which she couldn't receive chemo. We expected to be able to go the following weekend, but her counts have not recovered. The doctors will monitor her counts closely this week and hopefully we will get back on schedule. This puts us at least two weeks behind. Meaning she will not finish treatment until Mid November (that is if we stay on schedule for the remaining treatments). This is all expected confusion because she is so far into therapy. It will take her longer each time to recover from every treatment. Only 8 More to Go!!! Continue to keep Anna in your prayers. She is still doing remakably well! We send our love to you all!! The picture of Thomas, Anna, and Drew was taken in Highlands, NC at Dry Falls this April.

Another treatment almost complete

We are currently in Birmingham for treatment. We will be here until Tuesday. This is a five day treatment. Anna is doing wonderful. She is making friends and visiting with everyone she can. She loves to walk the halls and speak to anyone that will listen. She is currently taking a much needed nap, which gives me a brief few minutes to myself. She is scheduled for an MRI Tuesday morning. It is just a follow up to surgery and radiation. We will continue to keep you updated. Please pray for all the other children and their families here at Children's who are experiencing some of the same things we did when Anna was diagnosed. We can surely see the difference that prayer has made. We send our love to you all.

Quick update

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I haven't forgotten about the website. Things are just going so smoothly that I don't have much news. And I have to say I am thankful for that. We have been home for a week since Anna's last chemo treatment. She continues to be strong and amaze us all. Drew had a virus when we got home and we all ended up catching it from him. And with all Anna is dealing with, she had it for the shortest amount of time. We are all well now and enjoying the warm weather. Anna loves playing outside and looking for airplanes and helicopters. We will go back to Birmingham in May for another round of treatment. She continues treatment until October. And then we CELEBRATE! I'll keep you posted as things progress. We send our love to everyone!

Anna playing at the park 3/1/06

I just wanted everyone to see how great she is doing. She is such a trooper. She starts another round of chemo tomorrow. It will last for five days. Continue to pray for our little Anna! Lots of love to all!

Radiation therapy

We began radiation therapy last Tuesday. Anna receives internal radiation called brachytherapy twice a day for five days. She receives treatment at 7 am and 1pm everyday and can not eat until the second treatment is complete. She is doing great! We try to stay busy in between treatments so she doesn't think about food. We have been able to go to the zoo and to the McWane Center (a science discovery center) both of which she enjoyed a lot. We will be finished with radiaton on Monday. She will have a short surgery Thursday to remove the radiation catheters and the stitches from her surgery. She will also be admitted to the hospital Thursday to begin her next round of chemotherapy. Please continue to pray that she responds to the chemo having as few side effects as we have seen so far. Thanks for all the prayers we received while she was having surgery and beginning radiation. Everything went so well and her doctors were extremely pleased. We will just endure the remaining 10 chemo treatments and end this year CURED! Praise GOD! HE has continued to bless us through this entire ordeal. And the Lord has also placed so many loving friends and family along our path to ease this journey. We thank you all and wish joy and blessings for your family!

We are home and our prayers have been answered!

Anna had surgery Thursday. It lasted about six hours. Her doctors are extremely pleased with everything. There was no nerve damage at all during the surgery. They were able to remove the remainder of the tumor! The radiologist placed the catheters for radiation therapy after the tumor was removed and he said the placement of the catheters was "better than perfect"! I'm not sure how something can be better than perfect, but I'm glad Anna is. Everytime a surgeon came out to give us an update during her surgery the news was encouraging. We could not have hoped for things to be any better than they are now. She is doing great. Showing very few signs of pain and discomfort. We are glad to be home for a couple of days. We will return to Birmingham for her radiation therapy next week. She will receive radiation twice a day for five days. They will be out patient treatments. We have a great place to stay associated with the American Cancer Society. They offer transportation to and from the center for treatments. And then in two weeks we will return to her regular chemo schedule.

A huge thankyou to all for so many prayers. God's hands have been in this from the beginning. We continue to feel His presence in it all. We know He has answered all our prayers for Anna. We can truly testify to the difference prayer can make. He is an Awesome, Amazing God.

We will continue to keep you updated.

The next step

Our next step involves surgery and radiation. Anna is scheduled for surgery on the 16th. During that surgery the radiologist will implant small catheters in the tumor bed. These catheters will then be used to give her internal radiation therapy called Brachytherapy. She will recieve radiation for about two weeks every two to three days. In between which we will be able to come home. Yeah! She continues to do wonderfully. She had her 2nd birthday the 25th of January. We will not know the next step until her surgery and radiation implants are complete. But we will keep you posted on her condition. We ask for your continued prayers especially the day of surgery.

Home after treatment #5

We are home after a three day stay in the hospital for another chemo treatment. Anna continues to do fantastic. She is such a strong little girl. She has made friends with everyone in the hospital from her doctors and nurses to the cafeteria workers and cleaning crews. She loves them all. I think her favorite thing in the entire hospital is the guy who drives the machine every night to buff the floors. She gets so excited and beams from ear to ear when she hears him coming. It is such a blessing to see her get so much joy out of things even when her little body is dealing with so much.

I am waiting to hear from her doctors about what our next step is going to be. They are leaning towards surgery, but have some things to discuss before a final decisions is made. I will update with a new post as soon as I have news. Thanks for all the continued prayers and support. It means so much to have so many lifting Anna's name to the Lord. Our prayers are being answered!

A change in plans

The last post I left explained a plan for surgery followed by radiation. That has now changed somewhat. They have cancelled the plans for surgery next week and scheduled us for another round of chemo. Surgery is still a very likely possibility. The doctors just think that another round of chemo is the best step right now. They want to make sure that when and if they decide to perform surgery that they can go in and remove the rest of the tumor that is remaining. They do not want to go in just to remove a portion of it. The current plan now is to have another round of chemo (three day round) and meet with all of her doctors together to decide the next step. Please keep us, as well as Anna's team of doctors, in your prayers. Pray that they have the knowledge and wisdom they need to determine the best treatment for her. I will keep you posted with any new updates.

MRI Results

We got great news from Anna's MRI. Her tumor has shrunk to the size of a walnut. We are thrilled. The doctors are scheduling her for surgery the week of 1/16. We don't have an exact day yet. There will be two different doctors performing the resection and they have to coordinate their schedules. It will most likely be Wed. or Thurs. of that week. She will get back on her every three weeks chemo schedule after recovering from surgery. They expect it will be about two weeks after surgery that she will be strong enough to continue. And soon after that they will begin radiation therapy. The current plan is to start radiation therapy the beginning of March. All of this depends on the surgery and how she recovers, but that is what is expected. We will keep you posted. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Happy New Year! We are home again!

We returned last night (New Year's Eve) from Anna's fourth treatment. She continues to amaze and surprise us all (especially her doctors). They are amazed that she hasn't gotten sick or needed a blood transfusion. She is tired after this treatment, but that is to be expected. She is happy to be home. She is playing and enjoying all the things she got at Christmas. We couldn't ask for her treatment to be going any better. We return for an outpatient MRI January 6th. Please remember that date and say a special prayer. We will not get results from that until the following Monday. I will post some news as soon as we know the next step. Her team of doctors will meet to discuss possible surgery and/or radiation. Continue to pray for wisdom for each of her doctors as well as agreement among them on the best next step. We have been encouraged so far as to how she is responding, but this MRI will show exactly what each treatment has accomplished. It is a big milestone in this entire process.

We thankyou all for the prayers and support you have sent our way. Please know that you too are in our continued thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed to have so many outreaching friends and family to lean on at this time. You all mean so much and have made such a tremendous difference during this trying time. We could not possibly thankyou enough. Just continue to pray for us when the Lord places us on your heart. We have seen the difference prayer can make. We wish you all continued blessings throughout the New Year!

We are home after treatment # 3

We arrived home last night after finishing Anna's third treatment. Things could not be better! She is responding wonderfully to the treatment and having minimal (almost zero) side affects. Praise the Lord! We know that she is being continually showered with prayers and we truly see the results of these prayers. We do not have to go back for another treatment until after Christmas. Please keep Anna in your prayers January 6, 2006. We go back to Birmingham then to have another CT Scan and MRI of her tumor to see exactly how much it has shrunk. Our team of doctors will then decide about surgery and radiation.

We thankyou all for all the many prayers you have lifted up on our behalf. We really feel the Lord's presence in this. And we know that we could not get through this without HIM! We just ask that you continue to keep us in your daily prayers. We wish you and your families many blessings this Christmas Season!

Our second treatment

We are home after Anna's second treatment. She is such a trooper and doing very well. The way she is playing today you would never believe she was in the hospital yesterday. We arrived home last night (Wednesday) after a five day treatment. She responded well to the medication again and seems to not be having any side affects. She has lost most of her curls, and is more beautiful than ever! We are so thankful for all our wonderful family and friends. You have all been such great support through all of this. Please continue to pray for us all as her treatments continue over the next year. Prayers have made a tremendous difference. We really feel God's presence. Her next treatment is December 2nd and it will last three days. After her fourth treatment, she will have another MRI so that they can see her progress. At this time they will determine when or if to perform surgery. Thanks again for all the prayers and support. We will update you as things change.

Our first week home

Anna has been doing wonderful her first week home after treatment. She has been more tired than normal, but other than that she is her spunky little self. We went to the lab today to have her blood counts checked. They dropped last week after her treatment, but are now back up. They came up quicker than expected, so that is a great sign. The mass is even smaller than the last time I wrote. So we see definite signs that she is responding to her treatment.

We appreciate everyone's prayers. Thanks for all the comments too! It's great to know that we have prayers coming from around the country for our little girl. And we love hearing from you too! We will continue to do our best to keep everyone posted on her condition.

Love to you all!

We are HOME!

We arrived home from the hospital Sunday afternoon. It has never felt so good to climb into our own beds. Anna was so excited to be home. She just kept running from one room to the next. She is doing wonderful. We see no signs of side affects from the chemotherapy. PRAISE THE LORD! We ask that you continue to pray for her to respond as well to her remaining treatments as she has to this one. We can also tell a noticeable difference in the size of the mass on her neck. Anna will be monitored in Auburn twice a week and then every third week we will travel to Birmingham for her treatment. Thanks again for all the prayers and support. It has been amazing to witness God's hand in all of this. We have seen Him at every turn the entire time. We also ask that you pray for the other children at Children's Hospital and their families. We have truly seen the difference that prayer can make. We love you all and will continue to keep you updated on Anna's progress.

Anna's Diagnosis and treatment

Anna has been diagnosed with PNet (Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor) . It is a type of childhood cancer. She has a tumor that is located on the left side of her neck. It extends from the top of her spine, down the side of her neck down towards her collar bone. Although it is a fairly large tumor it is localized to that area. It is pressing on some of the nerves that control her left arm, therefore they have opted not to attempt to surgically remove the mass first. She started her first round of Chemo Thursday and will complete that round tonight (Saturday, October 22, 2005). If everything goes well tonight we can go home tomorrow. We will continue to visit Children's Hospital in Birmingham every three weeks for the next year for Anna to receive Chemotherapy. After the first twelve to fifteen weeks of her treatment, her surgery team will re-evaluate the tumor and see if they can remove it at that time. We will still continue her chemo treatments every three weeks even if it is removed. They want to make sure they take care of any other stray cancer cells she may have. She has done fantastic throughout this entire ordeal. We want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and support. We will keep you updated as things progress.