The Grant William Terrell Foundation is asking for your help. Katie Adams is a little girl that is battling childhood cancer and she needs our help. Katie Adams is daughter to Samantha and Lee Adams. She is the little sister to Hailey. This family was given devastating news that their sweet baby has brain cancer and Katie has endured surgery as well as chemotherapy and radiation.
This is a message from Samantha (Katie’s mom): We feel so honored that Katie is this year’s recipient of Pause for the Cause! We are also very blessed and excited to share that we just found out three weeks ago that Katie is cancer free!!!!!! Now she is still in a "high risk factor time frame" to relapse and we pray that doesn't happen. She still continues to take oral chemo twice a day, weekly labs, and checkups. We trust the plan that God has for her and continue to enjoy every moment of everyday because as you know tomorrow is never promised.
Katie's battle is FAR FROM OVER!!!
Katie is this year’s recipient of the Pause for the Cause event held at the Hartwell Speedway in Hartwell Georgia. This is event is very near to our hearts because last year Grant William Terrell was the recipient of Pause for the Cause. Because of their support our family personally received from this event we feel that is very important to pay it forward and give back to the event to help another child that is battling childhood cancer. Katie and her family are in need of our financial support and prayers. The toll that childhood cancer takes on a family is hard and can be financially damning. The Grant William Terrell foundation has already pledged a donation of $500 to Pause for the Cause. We would like to see this amount grow. We would love to be able to help Katie and her family through this journey. Please help by donating!!! NO AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL!!!! EVERY PENNY COUNTS!!! If you are unable to donate we ask that you please be in prayer for Katie and her family and also to share is campaign.
You can follow her journey on facebook, her parents have created Pray For Katie Adams page.
Katie's Full Story writen by Samantha Adams:
Back in February Katie had a fever for 3 days. After going to our pediatrician and being tested for everything under the sun, I brought Katie back into the pediatrician on February 4th because she started showing symptoms of meningitis. We were immediately sent to Scottish Rite for a spinal tap test to see if Katie actually had meningitis. The spinal tap came back clear but the ER doctor wanted to have a CT scan done to see where the pain was coming from in her neck. A few hours later we were sat down and told that Katie had a brain tumor. Our world came to a sudden stop! A neurologist came in and spoke with us and told us that Katie had a lot of pressure in her head and he wanted to drain the fluid pressure by performing minor surgery that night and putting a drain in her head. After the 45 minute surgery we were told that everything went great and they were very happy they put the drain in because the pressure in her head was 30% and normal pressure was 15-20%. The next day Katie had an MRI which revealed a total of 4 tumors. Three of the four were in her brain and one was on her brain stem, on her spine.
The next day, Katie had emergency brain surgery, 8 hours long to remove the tumor that was on her brain stem on her spine. The doctors mentally prepared us for her to be completely unconscious for the next 24-48 hours to control the swelling on her brain as well as having tubes in her and all over her body. When her surgery was complete the doctors came into the waiting room with the biggest smiles on their faces and said, "She's awake, smiling, and talking...She's a FIGHTER!" they couldn’t believe it!!! God and a ton of angels were watching over her that day. We stayed in the hospital for about 2 1/2 weeks during her recovery. We were home for 2 weeks before we went back to the hospital to begin chemotherapy for next 6 months! The first cycle of chemo went great until we got home. Four days into us being home Katie became very dehydrated, couldn’t keep any food, water, medicine, ect.in her system. She lost a lot of weight and became very pale. I took her into the ER and we ended up being in the hospital for 1 month and 1 day. Most of that time was spent in the PICU. One of the chemo drugs caused Katie's lining in her stomach to be torn out which is called typhlitis. She also had fluid buildup on her right lung which needed surgery to help drain the fluid. Throughout the two and half weeks in PICU, Katie’s heart rate was in the 225’s and she was also on oxygen for most of the time. We came very close to losing her but we weren’t going to let that happen! Eventually Katie’s oxygen levels went back to normal and her heart rate did as well. We were finally able to be moved back to the Aflac floor, where we spent the remainder of two weeks. Before going home Katie had a central line put in her chest for the last 3 cycles of chemo and stem cell transplant and a G-Tube put in her stomach to help with meds, feedings, hydrating, ect., it has been wonderful!
The last 5 cycles of chemo have been great for Katie.She skated through her BMT chemo stay with flying colors!!!! We continue to treat Katie's tumor with oral chemo at home and will continue to do so over the next two years as she is in a high risk for relapsing in this time frame. We continue to get quarterly MRI's and weekly labs, and doctor visits to make sure Katie is in good health! Katie has had such a great mind set and spirit throughout this entire process!
She is still the same loveable, sweet, energetic girl! We are hoping and praying that all goes well and after all that Katie has endured we can say, "We Beat Cancer!!!"
("Contributions are solicited with the understanding that the donee organization has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.")
