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Welcome to Katelyn Benson's website! This has been created to keep family and friends up to date with the latest news regarding our brave daughter.

At the age of three, Katelyn was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma Stage 4, a rare childhood cancer for which there is no cure. She was diagnosed on Monday 16th May 2005 and since then has undergone 8 rounds of chemotherapy, a 5 hour tumour resection surgery, further high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant, radiotherapy and 6 rounds of Accutane (Retinoic Acid). In September 2006, we discovered that Katie had relapsed and so the battle begins again.

Despite the devastating prognosis, we have great faith that our precious daughter will be granted her miracle cure. Thank you for joining us on our rollercoaster journey. Words cannot express the uplifting joy we feel to know we have such a wonderful "team" standing behind us every step of the way. We thank each and every one of you for the endless love, support and prayers.

We are praying for a miracle!!

Children with cancer are like candles in the wind who accept the possibility that they are in danger of being extinguished by a gust of wind from nowhere; and yet, as they flicker and dance to remain alive, their brilliance challenges the darkness and dazzle those of us who watch their light.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Cookie monster

Katie is almost back to her normal playful self. Her weight has dropped another 0.3kg making her about 2.6kg less than she was a few weeks ago. I am struggling to get her to eat. She will nibble on some sponge fingers and rich tea biscuis, but that's about it. Despite that, she and Josh are having fun baking cookies with Nana every single day :-)

The end of treatment is near, Katie has started round 5 of accutane. Speaking of nearing ends, we have 5 weeks to go until the baby is due. I am waddling around like a duck carrying a few extra stone of bodyweight. This pregnancy has run very smoothly, for which, I feel richly blessed. At 36 weeks, I'll be having another scan to check the baby is still in the correct position for labour. We are so excited about the impending arrival of a new family member.

While things go well, I will attempt to update every few weeks or so. Until then please assume that no news is good news!