Klaire - JBER

Blake and I have been married for 13 years and have 3 daughters. He is active duty (20 years) in the United States Airforce, and I hold the title of a part time RN, full time mom, and wife. Although our story is unique to us, we realize, that unfortunately, we are now a part of a large population throughout the U.S. and world, fighting childhood cancer...

  Our middle daughter, Klaire was 9 years old at the time when she started having unexplained nausea and vomiting. Naturally, I took her to her doctor to get checked out, but everything seemed fine in her exams, and it was brushed off to the stomach virus or just something she was working through. Her symptoms were on and off for several months, but never anything too concerning. We got orders to move to Alaska and started making our travel plans. We knew we would take 3 to 4 weeks to travel from North Carolina to Anchorage, sightseeing along the way, with our three daughters. We were hoping for a trip of a lifetime, and well, we got it!! 

   On July 6th we departed. We visited family and friends along the way, as well as national parks, forests, and landmarks. We were having a great time. 

On July 23rd, we were visiting Edmonton Canada’s largest indoor water park, to celebrate our oldest two daughters’ birthdays who were turning 11 and 10. It was there, in bathing suits that I noticed a bulge in Klaire’s stomach. When we got to our hotel that night, I did a closer exam on her, and being a nurse, I knew I found something bad. Something wrong. Something rock hard in her stomach, taking up a large part of her lower abdomen. Trying not to panic, I called my husband into the room to look at what I was seeing. We knew it wasn’t normal, but since it wasn’t bothering her at the time, we decided we would follow up as soon as we got to Anchorage. After all, we were only 1 week out from our scheduled arrival anyway.

  Things changed over the next 48 hours and Klaire’s nausea and vomiting came back, and now was also experiencing severe abdominal pain. We knew we had to get her seen somewhere but by this time, we were in a remote location in Canada. We drove three hours to the nearest ER in Watson Lake. They did the best they could but could not diagnose her and recommended that we get an official ultrasound at the next closest city, which was another five hours away. We drove five hours and got to our hotel for that night. It was a long night of nausea vomiting and severe pain. We made it through the night and headed to the ER first thing in the morning for our official ultrasound at Whitehorse Canada. The ultrasound showed a large abdominal mass. Following that, an MRI showed the same thing. Thinking that it was a large ovarian cyst that could rupture and possibly be life-threatening, they needed to get us to a larger facility capable of handling her.  Since we were still about 2 1/2 days’ worth of driving away from Anchorage, it was decided we should be life flighted to Providence Hospital. My husband and I separated a few belongings out of our car and said our goodbyes. Klaire and I flew to Anchorage while my husband another two children continued to drive. After Klaire and I arrived in Anchorage, they ordered a few more tests and now thought she possibly had a large teratoma and needed surgery, but it wasn’t life-threatening anymore. Since this was a Friday afternoon, The pediatric surgeon scheduled her surgery for the following Monday morning. The rest of the family arrived over the weekend, and we were all able to take a breather as we waited for Monday. Klaire and I stayed in the hospital over the weekend to manage her symptoms. Klaire and a friend of hers decided to name the tumor Felecia, so she could say “bye Felecia!” We made signs to decorate her room.

  On Monday morning one of my sisters had flown in town to take care of our other two children so my husband and I could be together as we waited on Klaire’s surgery. After about three hours, the surgery team came to the pediatric ICU to talk to my husband and I and explained that the tumor was so large it encompassed her right ovary and right fallopian tube and it all had to come out. The tumor weighed over 8 pounds and was, in fact, ovarian in nature. The surgeon also had great suspicions for the first time, that it was probably cancerous. My husband and I were in a state of shock the rest of the day because we had no idea that was even a possibility. He explained that the tumor would have to be sent to pathology for testing and if the hospital here in Anchorage could not figure out exactly what it was that it would have to be sent off even further to Seattle children’s hospital. The waiting game began. The next few days were filled with a painful recovery process for Klaire, the now 10-year-old who had basically just given birth to an 8 pound “baby”! She was amazing for recovery and tolerated everything very, very well. We are so proud of her. We went home to our temporary rental house on day 6, as we continued to wait on answers and pathology results. 

Our hands were tied with this waiting game. After several days, they were able to tell us that they simply could not figure out what kind of tumor this was, and it would have to be sent to Seattle for further testing. Finally, 15 days after surgery, we got the diagnosis of juvenile granulosa cell ovarian cancer. 

We were told she would need chemotherapy to remove the rest of the tumor cells that were left behind during surgery. In order to make sure we were going to make the right decision with all of this, we wanted some second opinions. We then had to wait another week to get an actual official written report of her diagnosis so that we could send it out for other opinions. The waiting was torture. Hands-down the worst part of this whole ordeal- the waiting. Our lives were stopped. We didn’t know if we should stay in Anchorage, if she could be treated here, we didn’t know if we should sign a lease for a house, we didn’t know if we were going to be making the right decision to proceed with chemotherapy. We had so many questions. After getting our second and third opinions, we decided that we would proceed with chemotherapy. We moved into our house on base and got started the next week.

Klaire was upset about losing her hair and not being able to go to school. There were many tears shed over these two subjects but eventually she was ok. We knew this was something we would just have to do and hopefully after four rounds of chemo, she would be done and back to her usual self and routine. She even decided to shave her head and requested a hot pink mohawk! We donated her hair to children with hair loss organization and made it a family affair. 

So far, she has completed one cycle of chemotherapy and has done very well with it. We continue to be amazed at her strength and determination to “get back to normal “. Of course, there are ups and downs with her mood and attitude, but we continue to encourage her to look on the bright side/positive of things. Hopefully three more cycles together and we will be done by Christmas!

We continue to be touched and amazed at all the outpouring of love from our family, friends, neighbors, and organizations that help with people fighting cancer. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to your Katie’s Handprint organization for donating to Klaire and our family.