PLYMOUTH, Maine — The word cancer is scary in and of itself, and if you use that word when describing a child's condition or your own child's condition, it takes on another level of fear. That has been the reality for one Maine family whose world has been turned upside down over the last 13 months.
Emmi, 6, was living her best life when she suddenly began having headaches, getting dizzy, and feeling nauseous regularly. After multiple negative COVID tests and eight trips to the emergency room, doctors located the cause.
"Cancer was just in my head," Emmi's mom, Angela, said. "I had a feeling it was more serious than headaches or a virus."
Angela was right. On May 13, 2021, Emmi was diagnosed with medulloblastoma. She had a brain tumor wrapped around her brain stem and spinal cord.
Three days after her diagnosis, Emmi underwent a tumor resection surgery. She has had six cycles of chemotherapy and radiation and countless other procedures. She's been at Boston Children's Hospital for more than 230 days, including months spent in a vegetative state.
"I just talked to her, read to her," Angela said. "And we had family, and everybody would just try to be as normal as possible and pray. I mean, I'd sit and read the bible to her sometimes. I just had a feeling that she would get better."
And Emmi has done just that.
"Every little thing that she started to do was amazing," Angela said.
Defying her medical odds, Emmi started to move and nod and talk.
"They're astounded by her because she was so not there, and then, poof, she's coming back into herself," Angela said. "We don't know if, hey, tomorrow she might decide, 'I'm going to get up and walk.'"
After spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her seventh birthday in the hospital, it would be easy for anyone to be frustrated or even deflated. But not Emmi.
"She actually wants to donate all of her stuff to the other children at the hospital," her mother said. "Her heart is huge. She's so kind. She never pities herself. She never complains about pain, about anything."
Emmi was due to come home next month to continue her treatment, but that will be easier said than done. While in the hospital, Emmi's home in Plymouth, Maine, was destroyed.
"A tree fell on the roof," Angela said. "Severe damage, water damage, everything. So that was going on while we were in Boston. She wasn't doing well during the chemo. She was in the ICU for weeks, so we couldn't leave. So now we're struggling with that situation."
To help with that struggle, Angela started a GoFundMe with the goal of raising $25,000. Click here to donate.