Lila's Diagnosis

For those of you who are following this, I thought I'd keep you posted on the latest update on Lila written by her grandma:

It has taken me until today to be able to write an update on how Lila is doing. Yesterday brought the diagnosis we all feared – brain cancer. Lila’s tumor was made up of 2 elements; the outer section was a teratoma tumor (which is very rare to find in that location and in an infant), but the inner core was a yolk sac or germ cell tumor, which is the worst and most malignant tumor. It truly was miraculous that this very dangerous tumor was incased in a teratoma tumor and that the tumor was able to be successfully removed. Lila will start chemotherapy a week from Monday – June 16. She will have 8 months of chemo, which will involve a once a month treatment in which she will be hospitalized for 3-5 days. Germ cell tumors have a 40 -60% survival rate, which was devastating to hear yesterday but seems very hopeful today. We are hoping that all of you will be willing to hang in for a very long time with us. We need all of your prayers more than ever! I will keep Fast for Lila updated with new pictures (check out the one of Lila smiling that Ben posted today ☺ ), and frequent updates on how she is progressing. As soon as Ben and Annie have figured out how they are going to readjust their lives for her to be treated at Duke, I will post that too. We are completely humbled with immense gratitude for all of you. The comfort you have brought us is impossible to put into words.