She's cute and what a fighter...

Meet Adahlia

This little warrior has spunk like most her age. We've been following Addie for a while now and thought since you were praying for her regularly, many of you would like to get to know her story. Here is how she entered the world of cancer. Her mom shared this with us recently...

"When Adahlia was born, she had 2 multicystic kidneys. They were not sure she would even last 3 days. She had her right kidney removed when she was 4 months old and her left functions

approximately 80% and is considered to have stage 2 chronic kidney disease. She has had frequent testing and blood work since she was born. At 3 and a half, her parents started noticing that Adahlia was becoming more clumsy. She began complaining of headaches and began vomiting everyday. Her mom took her to the doctor to have her kidney function tested as it was assumed that Adahlia's kidney was failing. Her kidney function was stable so she was sent for an MRI which showed a small pituitary tumor surrounded by a large cyst. Adahlia was immediately admitted to Peyton Manning

Children's Hosital to have the cyst and tumor removed. Adahlia stayed in the hospital for 12 days and began physical and occupational therapy immediately and was left with hypothyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, and diabetes insipidus from the removal of the tumor. During the 3 month followup MRI, it was revealed that the tumor was growing back and repeat surgery was imminent but the surgeon and oncologist decided to watch it for 3 more months.

Our church laid hands on Adahlia before her next MRI and the scan revealed that the tumor had grown but it was no longer safe to operate because the tumor was no longer in the same place as before so Adahlia was referred to Chicago Proton Center for proton beam radiation therapy, which had an 87% of killing the tumor. Her family uprooted to north of Chicago for 7 weeks for radiation. Since completing proton radiation, her tumor shrank, and she developed no further side-effects from the tumor. Her MRIs have been clear for a year and a half and she has been discharged from physical and occupational therapy. She is enjoying kindergarten and ballet. We ask that you continue praying for her as one of the cysts on her kidney is beginning to look like a tumor, so they are monitoring it with ultrasounds every six months. Thank you for your prayers!"

~From mom Randi.

You can follow Addie's story along with other warriors and survivors on Gilead Ministries Facebook page.

You can also read stories about other warriors Gilead has walked alongside of on our Warrior Blog.

Click here if you'd like to read about the tumor that Addie has.