Micala Webster

[Jesusong]

Micala Webster is an eight year old girl who has a rare form of cancer.

Please keep her and her family in your prayers

 

[fieldmouse3]

She's got my prayers!

 

[Soul-jah_33]

yeah mine too!

 

[Jesusong]

Here's some info on what she has and what she is going through for treatments. This is from a newspaper article by the Lowell Sun published on March 1, 2003:

Her light brown hair fell out two months ago, leaving a golden pate. It was because of the chemotherapy.

But no big deal. Little 8-year-old Micala Webster put on the fake blond braids with trinkets and stuffed them under her favorite purple cap. Then she flashed her trademark elfin smile and went to feed her pet fish. But suddenly, she felt nauseous a byproduct of the powerful radiation treatment aimed at her spine yesterday at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Since November, Micala has endured two brain operations, chemotherapy and radiation. All she needs now is a bone-marrow transplant and a little luck. Micala her family lives on Sayles Street in the Highlands is battling one of the rarest and most aggressive forms of cancer, pineal blastoma, which attacks the brain and spinal cord. Only 30 cases exist in the United States. "It's a long road. The thing that keeps us going is we believe God is in control of this and He will bring us through," said her mother, Cindi Webster, a secretary on leave from the Community Christian Academy school on Princeton Boulevard. It's where the family worships and where Micala was in third grade and a cheerleader until her diagnosis. "She knows she has cancer but doesn't walk around with any type of fear. I've not seen her cry, though I'm sure she's had her moments," said her teacher, Debra Brouillard, who delivers school lessons to the Webster home so that Micala can keep up. "She always has a smile. She's a very strong little girl."

She led a normal life for years. But last fall, she became constantly tired and sleepy. Doctors at first thought she had a virus such as mononucleosis. But then a doctor noticed fluid in her brain, indicating harmful brain pressure. It led to a diagnosis of pineal blastoma and an immediate trip to the operating table. She underwent two brain surgeries at Children's Hospital in Boston one to relieve the pressure, the other to remove the tumor. Because the cancer is so aggressive, doctors need to kill even one surviving cancer cell if it exists. That's why they ordered chemotherapy, two rounds of which Micala has completed. She's also in the middle of a seven-week round of radiation, which takes place five days a week. The final phase of the treatment the family describes it as "life-saving" calls for the bone-marrow transplant. It's needed because the chemotherapy and radiation deplete her body of the healthy cells she needs to fight infection. She previously had cells removed and frozen cryogenically. They'll be reintroduced to her body during the transplant. "This is extreme treatment," said her mother, who will accompany her daughter in a quarantined ward at Children's Hospital for four to six weeks. Many miracles have occurred along the way. Big things such as: The surgeries could have impaired her eyesight, mobility, kidneys or liver, but no harm occurred. Smaller things such as: Sometimes before traveling into Boston for radiation, she briefly visits her school where classmates hug her and placed her name permanently on the greenboard. Faith in God has kept the family hopeful and aware of each other's moods, pressures and needs. When Micala lost her hair, her brother and sister cut their locks in support. Fellow members from the Community Christian Fellowship Church have come to clean house, shop for groceries, provide rides to the kids. The prayer group still visits Thursday evenings Cindi Webster said her own mental well-being depends on keeping a few events regularly scheduled. "It just blows my mind," she said, "so many people helping, including some people I don't even know."

 

[wvmtnkid]

Praying for Micala and for her family.