Kayla's Newspaper Article
She has on wipstick and this is dood!
Article from the Akron Beacon Journal - Tuesday 12-11- 2001 - Written by Thrity Umrigar, a Beacon Journal Staff Writer.
She is as bald as a top. Her soft, smooth skull with the tiny veins accentuates her large brown eyes. The small pigtails fell victim to the chemotherapy that she has been enduring since April.
The lower half of her 2-year-old body is in a cast that starts at her belly button and covers her entire right leg and half of her left. A long stick holds together each cast to reduce movement. Since August, the Barberton child has been unable to stand or walk.
It would be easy to feel sorry for Michaela Querry. It would also be a mistake. For one thing, she is the recipient of a daringly original and creative surgery performed at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron that has most likely saved her leg from amputation. And despite the obvious tragedy of having been diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, a malignant tumor in her right thighbone, and despite having undergone intense chemotherapy, Michaela's feisty spirit and happy nature elevate her from being an object of pity to an object of admiration.
When her
right hand is immobilized because of an IV, the little girl simply scribbles
with her left. Although she cannot walk, she has learned to use her buttocks to scoot from room to room.
She is
vivacious as she rattles off what she
wants for Christmas - Barbie
and the Nutcracker. She even takes her frequent stays at Children’s Hospital
in stride, basking in the attention showered on her by the staff.
Her parents, Heather and Don Querry, take their cues from their young daughter. “The way I look at it is, she doesn’t complain about it and she’s the one who goes through the pain, has the cast on. So how can we complain? She sets the standard for everything,” says Heather Querry.
Michaeia
also is lucky hi the choice of her surgeon. In April, after doctors found the
tnalignant tumor in an area where the femur meets the hip, it seemed likely
that her leg would have to be amputated at the hip.
Enter
Dr. Scott Weiner. He decided to figure out a way to save Michaela’s leg. But
how? She was too young for a hip replacement. A limb salvage would involve
taldng out the cancerous bone and then filling that gap with something else,
such as a cadaver bone. But a cadaver bone does not grow and given her young
age, Michaela needed a bone that would grow along with her. Then, inspiration
hit. Weiner explained the surgery that he thought up to the Querrys, who jumped
at the opportunity to save their daughter’s leg. With their blessings, Weiner
removed that part of the femur where the cancer was lodged. But this meant that
Michaela was now without a hip joint. So Weiner took part of Michaela’s
fibula, which is the thin bone on the outer part of the leg below the knee, and
fashioned a hip joint. He also removed the blood vessels attached to the top of
the fibula, which means that the hone can grow along with the girl. The
vascularized fibula was attached to the hip socket. Bone grafts are common, but
the fact that this particular surgery had the blood supply attached to the bone
made it complex and unique. Weiner credits Dr. Tom Reilly and Dr. Nina Njus of
the Crystal Clinic with helping with the surgery. Weiner is sure that this is
the first instance where someone has used a hone graft to replace a hip joint.
“We made up this operation. There's not another one in the country. This bone
graft has the blood supply attached to it. The novel thing is we took it with
the growth plate.”
Her
doctors do not know for sure whether Michaela was born with the tumor. Her
parents first noticed a problem in December 2000,
when she started to limp. The occasional limping grew bad enough that her
worried parents insisted on an X-ray in April. They received the had news the
same day. The chemotherapy started soon after. "We were all in shock,”
Heather recalls, “ We didn’t realize the extent of what was
going on with her." Heather,
who worked as an office manager for H&R Block, has been off work since
April. Don works for the National Guard in Stow. The couple also has a son, Dylan,
4.
The
Querrys are very aware that Michaela will need more operations as she grows
older. They are also aware of the experimental nature of the surgery.
Weiner has been candid with the family in telling them that he cannot predict
the success of the surgery. There is no guarantee that the fibula will grow as
planned. His hope is that if the surgery can preserve all of Michaela’s
muscles until she is 10 or 12, she can then be a candidate for a hip
replacement.
And
although Michaela is currently cancer-free, there is no assurance that the
cancer won’t reoccur. But the odds are on her side. National studies show 60
percent of children diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma survive.
Her
parents have grown in fortitude along with Michaela. Heather remembers the first
time she had to change the dressing to her daughter’s chemo tube, she almost
passed out. Now, she handles it like a pro. "We worry about
reoccurrence," Heather says. "We'll have to face that obstacle if it
comes."
The
Querrys have always been close to their children. But Michaela’s illness has
created a bond that Heather says is indescribable. And since Michaela shows no
trace of self-pity, Heather won’t allow herself to succumb to it either.
“She’s so strong and happy. She plays with her cousins and brother. We were
close before. Now, I couldn’t even describe it. We are all united.”
The
writer, Thrity Umhgar, can be reached at 330-996-3174 or at
tunrigatthebeaoonjouotal.com
