our little warrior ♥

Have you heard of Neuroblastoma? I'd totally understand if you haven't because me too, I only found out about it when my nephew Marcus acquired the freakin' cancer almost a year back.

I wish I can give you a blow-by-blow account of the disease and how my nephew is fighting it but sadly I am not capable of doing that. I was {and still is} fighting my own illnesses when it all started so I wasn't able to participate at all. For many months, I can only go as far as secondhand information - mostly from my sisters, some more from my cousin and his wife.

But just now, I decided to feed my depleting brain cells with a better understanding of the said disease. It's a rare cancer that occurs in infants and young children. My nephew is three, by the way.

Neuroblastoma happens when these special nerve cells called Neuroblasts fail to mature into functioning ones. They become cancer cells and form tumors instead. Mga palpak na nerve cells kayoo!! As far as I know, my nephew's tumors have decreased and only the ones in his head are left.

It is said that the signs of this disease can mimic those of other common childhood illnesses so it's difficult to be diagnosed early. I remember my cousin {his mother} once thought it was Autism because he has difficulty interacting. Turned out those are symptoms of Neuroblastoma. That and many more.

I am not aware of each and every test my nephew has undergone, nor his treatments, but I do know that he had completed several chemotherapy sessions. Imagine all the pain? 

But God is still good for he blessed our little warrior with boundless courage and unimaginable resilience. He seemed so strong, happy even, when we visited him at NKTI last month. Happier every time his mom blows bubbles for him. It was such a relief seeing him like that.

a video of him while watching the bubbles
not even close to his happiest

It's just sad that he won't let me or Dana carry him. I wanna hug him so tight pa naman and pinch pinch pinch his cute face. PS, he looks like me daw. Hahaha! 

Going back to the villain that is Neuroblastoma, I read that with the treatments nowadays, children have a good chance of survival. Growth and developmental delays may occur but personally, if I were the parent, I'd rather take care of a child with special conditions than lose him/her altogether.

On the brighter side, Dana and I got to see Teigs {our cousin, Marcus's mom} again. She used to live in our compound and we literally grew up with her so we definitely miss having her around. Oh well, at least we finally got to visit them. ♥

we missed you, teeiggsss :*

Forgive the heavy post but I'm not done just yet. Here's a candid OOTD shot showing off my fats here and there, my eyes sans eyeliner, my curly hurrr, an all black arm party and a rare print-less outfit. Whooaaa!

like Marcus's Facebook page & find out how you can help

pray for him too? :)

ELSEWHERE

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