Thought I would just update and let everyone know about Barans journey, from how it all started to his current progress!! A background to barans situation: Back in July (2014) I noticed how my very healthy boy, who had never previously had bad health, all of a sudden went from being very happy, playful and full of smiles to being very withdrawn from wanting to do anything!!
The first week he was waking up and being sick for no reason, I also noticed he was walking funny with a limp, so we decided to take him to see our local GP who put it down to the heat, as we live in turkey, icmeler, and the summers get rather hot!! The next few days, after the visit to the doctors, he stopped being sick, but each day his balance was getting worse, the only way to describe it was like he had one too many at the bar, even when just standing he would sway back and forth!! We decided once again to take him back to the doctors and he revered us to our local hospital in marmaris, turkey! The doctor there checked him over and had blood tests which all came back ok! He also checked his eyes and said all looked clear and once again put it down to the heat!!
2 weeks into him being unwell I noticed his appetite had started to be less and he was loosing weight! After a few contacts with friends we decided to see a private doctor who dealt with just children! I kept on telling the private doctor that I believed, especially with him being off balance, it had something to do with his brain, after a quick check of his eyes the doctor said his eyes are clear if there was something wrong with his brain it would show through his eyes!! I kept on asking if we could have a brain scan to just rule it out but he told us it wasn't needed!!!
For days and weeks baran just got worse to the point were he was just sleeping all day and not even wanting to stand up!! That's when we decided to take him to a private hospital were we would have to pay to get a scan done, but this didn't bother me as I just wanted to rule anything to do with his brain out!! This is when we got told that they had picked up a peanut size lump at the back of his brain and that we needed to go to Izmir university hospital immediately, which is 4hours journey away from icmeler! With no hesitation we travelled early hours in the morning so we arrived at a decent time to be seen to first thing!!
The doctor took one look at the scan we had brought with us and told us that this looked like a tumour and it was much bigger than a peanut size lump, he told us it looked deep rooted and by the size of it it must have been growing since birth!! Straight away we were told he would need a major op to remove it, which took 7hours in surgery to have it removed!!
We waited a further 2 weeks to get the results of the tumour they had removed to be told it was a cancerous tumour and would need to have chemotherapy!! But more bad news was to follow, the head doctor of onocology told us that they have never seen this type of tumour before in a child and that it's very rare!I was heartbroken and was told that they don't know the out come it's just a waiting game with the help of chemotherapy and pray it starts to work!!
The chemotherapy he would be undergoing is very intensive, staying in hospital 3-4 days!! Because of this intensive course of chemo we were told goin back to our home in icmeler was not possible as it was too far away for us to travel back and forth with a young child with cancer!! So we had to move nearer to the hospital in Izmir for however long his treatment takes! This was very difficult for us all as this was such a big move and very costly taking us away from our comforts and normality!!
Up to this moment in time baran has under gone all his chemotherapy treatments, 6 in total, and has also gone through radiotherapy, which has high risks for a child under the age of 3 because his nervous system hasn't yet fully developed!! But I am glad to say that through all this worry, stress and fear, barans latest MRI scan came back showing that his treatments are working and shrinking the left over cancer cells from where his tumour was removed!!
We've been told that baran is the first child with this type of tumour to respond so well to treatment that now he's able to undergo a bone marrow transfer, using his own bone marrow, along with a very strong dosage of chemo to kill off any bad cancer cells that maybe lurking!!
This is the last hurdle of his journey through treatment and we are amazed, as his parents, to see him still smiling and being as cheeky as ever!!
There's still a long journey ahead of the unknowns, but we are over the moon that he's responded to treatment and he's been given the opportunity to have the last lot of treatment of the bone marrow transfer, as this was not going to be considered at all if the chemo and radio had no positive response!! He's proved to us all including the medical team that no matter what age or what type of tumour you are diagnosed with you can fight and do so with a smile on your face!!
Family and friends and people whom we don't even know have been a great support emotionally and financially, with unexpected costs, as turkey isnt a country willing to help freely, money is always involved somewhere! Fundraising events have been organised and setup and are still ongoing which is helpin greatly!!
Our life's within a few short weeks were changed upside down, moving far away from our home and comforts!! Hospital appointments and the unknown become a daily thing making it impossible for us to find work or plan ahead that would fit into our new life!! We can't thank these people enough who have and are still helping!! It takes a little bit of the stress and worries away so we can concentrate on getting our boy better!! Xx
