McKenna was born November 15, 2008. On February 7th, 2010, Mike and Brittney Maiorana took their 14 month baby girl to the doctor for her only symptom which was constipation. After a week in the hospital and various testing, they concluded that she had Stage 4 High Risk/Unfavorable Neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is a cancer that originates in your nervous system. In most cases, and in McKenna’s case as well, the tumor begins in the adrenal gland, above the kidneys. After McKenna’s tumor biopsy, she needed to remain sedated and on a ventilator for just under 2 months because she was unable to breath on her own due to the size of her tumor and the pressure it put on her organs. During this time, McKenna had a Tracheotomy that was later removed in April. On April 28th, 2010, she was finally able to leave the hospital for the first time since February 7th. McKenna has had 6 rounds of chemotherapy that shrunk her tumor 80%. Then McKenna had a 7.5 hour tumor resection surgery where the surgeon removed an amazing 97% of McKenna’s remaining tumor. The amount of tumor that was removed was described as a softball, 2 golf balls, and then some! Her next treatment was a Bone Marrow Transplant, 20 sessions of radiation and then an investigational protocol for Immunotherapy/ Antibody treatment. In October of 2011, she had a second surgery to remove the remaining 16.8 by 21.1 mm tumor that was still encasing her Aorta. They successfully removed the entire remaining tumor and did inter-operative radiation to the area. Unfortunately, the tumor was still active. McKenna returned home to Arizona to have an additional 4 rounds of Chemotherapy. As of December 2011, McKenna’s scans are clear. She is N.E.D. (No evidence of disease). McKenna struggles with long term side effects from treatment such as mild/moderate hearing loss in both ears from Chemotherapy requiring her to wear hearing aids as well as swallowing issues from the Tracheotomy which requires all liquids to be thickened. We are thankful to the Lord for each and everyday. – Matthew 17:20

Signed,
Lydia Morgan