Walk In The Park

The Brain Tumor Walk is almost here, and we wanted to thank everyone that has joined Team Carly. There are a few more days left to support the team if you haven’t already and please spread the word to friends, family and co-workers. Up to this point the team has raised over $11,000 and is once again in the top ten of all teams at the walk. Supporters of Team Carly come from all over North America, as well as Europe, Asia and South America which is a tribute to all of you and the power of Carly’s spirit. For those of you that can make it in person, we will meet up at a Team Carly sign before the walk, and we plan to have a group picnic in Speedway Meadow after the walk is finished. We can’t thank you enough for your support for the walk, and every day that we can feel the love from everyone coming our way.

After the walk comes the next step in Carly’s treatment. As you all know Carly’s tumor has made a return appearance, and while it is much smaller than it was originally we need to treat the recurrence to prevent it from getting larger. We investigated both traditional photon/fractionated radiation treatment as well as proton treatment at Mass General in Boston and after speaking with several experts we have opted for a third choice of Gamma-Knife treatment (a type of sterotactic radiosurgery.) This is not the common treatment for craniopharyngiomas, but in Carly’s specific case it looks like the best option for treating the tumor while minimizing any harmful side effects. The radiation will be targeted only to the area of the recurrence, and it will kill any cells that it comes in contact with. It will be months, maybe years, before we know if it was successful in eliminating every tumor cell, but the treated area should stop growing immediately.

For the treatment they will attach an external frame to Carly’s head prior to an MRI. They will use the MRI to guide the radiation lasers to only target the tumor, and using the frame on her head for alignment in the Gamma-Knife machine they can be accurate to less then 1mm. She will be under anesthesia for it all, and should not feel any pain during or after the procedure. The Gamma-Knife treatment itself will last about an hour, and when she wakes from her anesthesia she may be able to head home or possibly stay at the hospital for one night. It will be a long day, with a very important outcome, and we ask everyone to picture Carly as the perfect little girl that she is, tumor free and ready to move onto the next step in her recovery.

Much love to you all from Christa, Carly and I.