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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.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Sugar, spice & all things nice

"If a mother's tears could heal cancer, you'd be cured."

My beautiful Katie has been in a very loving mood lately. She climbs on my lap wanting to be kissed and cuddled. It's always lovely, although it can be a tad inconvenient i.e. when I'm trying to feed Sophie, help Josh with his homework and cook dinner all at the same time! Everytime I think of saying 'no', I only have to look at those beautiful big eyes and my heart just melts. Every single day with this child is precious. The small things in life can't wait. My children come first, always. Besides, I'm a woman and us women are renowned for our multi-tasking skills.

Our weekend was quiet, well as quiet as you can expect with 3 children under one (small) roof. As I mentioned on Friday, the Hickman line was pulled. She's now had 2 line insertions in as many months. Katie was supposed to have started the second round of TVD today but her counts were not up to scratch. White blood cells, haemoglobin and platelets were low - not enough to warrent any transfusions but it may be on the cards sometime in the near future.

Please keep on praying for those counts to rise!! P.S. Seeing as she has a lot of love to share, Katie sends many kisses and cuddles.

Posted by Nicole on Monday, October 23, 2006