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Having a child is probably the most exciting and life altering moment of your life. Especially your first child, not knowing what to expect, everything is brand new and there is pretty much no instruction manual that covers your new life that is about to unfold before you! This whole new world of responsibility can at times become daunting and exhausting.
Now imagine instead of just one baby you are having twins! When having twins any worrying you had about one baby is now multiplied by two! From making sure both babies are fine inside the womb, to having a normal and safe birth, and finally preparations of their rooms and the baby proof house for two new babes!
The biggest fear most new parents face is worrying about the health of their new baby and hopefully no problems or health complications. Sadly for many parents, things don’t run as smooth as planned. There are so many things that could potentially go wrong during a pregnancy and if you aren’t being vigilant these issues can sneak right up on you.
That brings us to today’s story featuring Elisa and Michael Dunn, a couple who were expecting their first child. They were first stunned to find out they weren’t just bringing one baby into the world, they were having twin baby girls! They celebrated the news although they knew it would be double the work, but they still felt blessed and thankful.
On July 4th, Independence Day in the USA, twin baby girls Isabella and Madeline were born. Because they were born on July 4th they nicknamed the two cuties their sweet little ‘firecrackers’. As the new family settled in with their twin baby firecrackers everything seemed to be going great.
That is until one somber day in September when the twins had a routine check-up with their doctor. During the exam the doctor immediately noticed that Madeline’s stomach seemed to be bulging and when he pressed on it something didn’t feel right! The doctor took an ultrasound image, viewed it, and a visible growth was clearly showing. The doctor had to give the Dunn family some pretty scary news…
From what he saw on the ultrasound it looked as if baby Madeline may have some type of tumor or cancer! He sent them to a specialist to get her belly further checked out. They took blood work, got samples, did all the testing that was necessary. Then came the terrifying diagnosis. The doctor told the Dunns their sweet baby girl had a rare type of cancer called a Stage 4s Neuroblastoma. If this news wasn’t bad enough, the specialist suspected her twin sister Isabella might have something similar and asked her parents if he could examine her as well.
That’s when the double dose of terrible news came crashing down on the Dunns. Both of their daughters had soft balled sized Stage 4s Neuroblastomas growing off of their adrenal glands. The doctors explained to them that it is very rare for twins to both have the same cancer at the same time. But in this particular case they suspected that the initial cancer cells started multiplying and duplicating inside Madeline in the womb and were passed on to her sister Isabella.
They reasoned that because they were identical twins they shared certain blood vessels and arteries while they were still in the womb. These vessels would act as pathways for the cancer cells to travel from one baby to the other. Because the cancer began months before they were born and continued growing from their kidneys and then into their livers a successful surgery would not be possible.
Both girl’s livers were now filled with tumors and their fate was now uncertain. The doctors were unsure if surgery would be beneficial and they didn’t think either twin would survive it. So they decided on the next best thing Chemotherapy.
In general Chemotherapy can have serious side effects for a grown adult or an older child; but the side effects for babies this young would be much worse. Their parents were so scared and horrified, but they opted for the chemotherapy, because not doing anything was just not an option!
Both girls started chemotherapy separately during the first round. They both experienced horrible side effects and were suffering through the treatment. After the second round of chemo, the girls were brought back together and somehow just being near each other lessened the side effects.
They both went through 4 arduous, long and painful chemotherapy sessions, then two weeks before Christmas the twins had an MRI taken to see how they had responded to the treatment. A miracle had occurred, Isabella and Madeline’s cancer were both completely in remission and their were no signs of cancer in their systems!
Luckily their rare cancer stayed in remission and never came back! The girls still get check-ups every 6 months just to make sure everything is still in remission. The twins are now healthy and growing up just like any other normal kids would. They had no long term side effects from the cancer or the chemotherapy. Thank god this story had an amazing and beautifully happy ending for these two adorable baby ‘firecrackers’.
Watch the video below for the full story:
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