My Inspiration and Commitment
The motivation and inspiration to complete this book, which became "The Adventures of Isabella and Nathaniel" was born of a desire to use my creativity to raise awareness and raise funds for research, that will hopefully lead to a cure for neuroblastoma.
A young child in my family was diagnosed with this disease when he was 15 months old. Neuroblastoma is a form of cancer that attacks the nervous system in children. This child is very fortunate, because he is was treated successfully at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is now a healthy 5 year old, and has marked the 3rd year of post treatment and three years of clean scans.
Most children are not that fortunate. They loose cognitive and motor skills, if they survive. Survival is dependent upon age, disease stage; children diagnosed before age 5 have about a 30% chance of survival. The majority of children will relapse with neuroblastoma, and their odds drop to 5%. For children over 5 the prognosis is often fatal.
The cause of neuroblastoma is unknown, although many physicians believe that it is an accidental cell growth that occurs during normal development of the adrenal glands.
The motivation and inspiration to complete this book, which became "The Adventures of Isabella and Nathaniel" was born of a desire to use my creativity to raise awareness and raise funds for research, that will hopefully lead to a cure for neuroblastoma.
A young child in my family was diagnosed with this disease when he was 15 months old. Neuroblastoma is a form of cancer that attacks the nervous system in children. This child is very fortunate, because he is was treated successfully at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is now a healthy 5 year old, and has marked the 3rd year of post treatment and three years of clean scans.
Most children are not that fortunate. They loose cognitive and motor skills, if they survive. Survival is dependent upon age, disease stage; children diagnosed before age 5 have about a 30% chance of survival. The majority of children will relapse with neuroblastoma, and their odds drop to 5%. For children over 5 the prognosis is often fatal.
The cause of neuroblastoma is unknown, although many physicians believe that it is an accidental cell growth that occurs during normal development of the adrenal glands.