From her father's site http://www.caringbridge.org/va/brookegriffin/history.htm
"
Brooke's Story
Up until April of 1998, Brooke at the age of three had had a normal infancy and toddlehood with the usual childhood ear infections and fevers. Our baby sitter called our attention to Brooke's left eye that appeared to have a clouded pupil. Our pediatrician immediately suggested that Brooke could have retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer found exclusively in infants and young children. Within a week of our first noticing of Brooke's unusual eye, she underwent CAT scans, blood tests, x-rays, bone marrow aspirations, and bone scans at the Massey Cancer Center of the Medical College of Virginia to determine if the cancer in the eye was localized to her eye. Her left eye was enucleated (removed) along with the optic nerve in a matter of days and she was fitted with an orbital implant on which a prosthetic eye could be placed. All the tests on Brooke done in April of 1998 indicated that the removal of her eye "cured" her of further cancer and there was only a 10,000 to one chance that her cancer would reoccur.
During the summer of 1998, Brooke was fitted with an artificial eye. Brooke was proud of her new eye and assured everyone that she could see out of it. Other than the need for some follow-up surgery to the eye socket in June, Brooke life returned to normal. Her lack of vision in her left eye never slowed her down. Her MCV eye doctor prescribed protective glasses for Brooke to wear when she played.
Brooke started to preschool in the fall of 1998 and she also started to complain about feeling tired and having specific pains in her legs and arms. After several visits to her pediatrician, some X-rays of her arms and legs, and some blood tests, it became obvious that something was wrong with Brooke. By her 4th birthday, Brooke had a noticeable limp, was lethargic, and had a low grade fever most of the time. Once again she was taken to MCV where she went through some of the same series of tests that she had done in April, but this time the bone scan indicated that she had a number of bone lesions in her upper extremities, chest, and pelvic region which indicated that the cancer from her eye had spread to her bones. She was hospitalized in December of 1998 and bone lesions were also found on her skull and a biopsy of one of the skull lesions confirmed that she had bone cancer. A bone marrow aspiration was taken and cancer cells were present in her bone marrow too. As the doctors described it, Brooke had cancer in two major "organs" of her body, her bones and her bone marrow. The cancer that she had was the metatasis of the retinoblastoma. Her condition was known as extraocular retinoblastoma, which was a very rare form of cancer.
Brooke's parents were told that there were no known successful treatment protocols to cure Brooke's cancer. However there were some experimentation with bone marrow transplants for similar forms of cancer, but these held great risk. The doctors informed the parents that Brooke prognosis of survival without treatment was 2-12 months. After consultation with the doctors at MCV, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and email correspondence with Doctors and parents with children with retinoblastoma, Brooke's parents elected to attempt to extend Brooke's life and reduce her pain with chemotherapy and radiation.
With Brooke's dismal prognosis, Brooke and her family turned to God in prayer for strength and healing. They also turned to their church family at Bellamy United Methodist Church to join them in praying, but also in helping them meet the financial strains of a major illness in the family.
"
REST IN PEACE.
"
Brooke's Story
Up until April of 1998, Brooke at the age of three had had a normal infancy and toddlehood with the usual childhood ear infections and fevers. Our baby sitter called our attention to Brooke's left eye that appeared to have a clouded pupil. Our pediatrician immediately suggested that Brooke could have retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer found exclusively in infants and young children. Within a week of our first noticing of Brooke's unusual eye, she underwent CAT scans, blood tests, x-rays, bone marrow aspirations, and bone scans at the Massey Cancer Center of the Medical College of Virginia to determine if the cancer in the eye was localized to her eye. Her left eye was enucleated (removed) along with the optic nerve in a matter of days and she was fitted with an orbital implant on which a prosthetic eye could be placed. All the tests on Brooke done in April of 1998 indicated that the removal of her eye "cured" her of further cancer and there was only a 10,000 to one chance that her cancer would reoccur.
During the summer of 1998, Brooke was fitted with an artificial eye. Brooke was proud of her new eye and assured everyone that she could see out of it. Other than the need for some follow-up surgery to the eye socket in June, Brooke life returned to normal. Her lack of vision in her left eye never slowed her down. Her MCV eye doctor prescribed protective glasses for Brooke to wear when she played.
Brooke started to preschool in the fall of 1998 and she also started to complain about feeling tired and having specific pains in her legs and arms. After several visits to her pediatrician, some X-rays of her arms and legs, and some blood tests, it became obvious that something was wrong with Brooke. By her 4th birthday, Brooke had a noticeable limp, was lethargic, and had a low grade fever most of the time. Once again she was taken to MCV where she went through some of the same series of tests that she had done in April, but this time the bone scan indicated that she had a number of bone lesions in her upper extremities, chest, and pelvic region which indicated that the cancer from her eye had spread to her bones. She was hospitalized in December of 1998 and bone lesions were also found on her skull and a biopsy of one of the skull lesions confirmed that she had bone cancer. A bone marrow aspiration was taken and cancer cells were present in her bone marrow too. As the doctors described it, Brooke had cancer in two major "organs" of her body, her bones and her bone marrow. The cancer that she had was the metatasis of the retinoblastoma. Her condition was known as extraocular retinoblastoma, which was a very rare form of cancer.
Brooke's parents were told that there were no known successful treatment protocols to cure Brooke's cancer. However there were some experimentation with bone marrow transplants for similar forms of cancer, but these held great risk. The doctors informed the parents that Brooke prognosis of survival without treatment was 2-12 months. After consultation with the doctors at MCV, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and email correspondence with Doctors and parents with children with retinoblastoma, Brooke's parents elected to attempt to extend Brooke's life and reduce her pain with chemotherapy and radiation.
With Brooke's dismal prognosis, Brooke and her family turned to God in prayer for strength and healing. They also turned to their church family at Bellamy United Methodist Church to join them in praying, but also in helping them meet the financial strains of a major illness in the family.
"
REST IN PEACE.
From her father's site http://www.caringbridge.org/va/brookegriffin/history.htm
"
Brooke's Story
Up until April of 1998, Brooke at the age of three had had a normal infancy and toddlehood with the usual childhood ear infections and fevers. Our baby sitter called our attention to Brooke's left eye that appeared to have a clouded pupil. Our pediatrician immediately suggested that Brooke could have retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer found exclusively in infants and young children. Within a week of our first noticing of Brooke's unusual eye, she underwent CAT scans, blood tests, x-rays, bone marrow aspirations, and bone scans at the Massey Cancer Center of the Medical College of Virginia to determine if the cancer in the eye was localized to her eye. Her left eye was enucleated (removed) along with the optic nerve in a matter of days and she was fitted with an orbital implant on which a prosthetic eye could be placed. All the tests on Brooke done in April of 1998 indicated that the removal of her eye "cured" her of further cancer and there was only a 10,000 to one chance that her cancer would reoccur.
During the summer of 1998, Brooke was fitted with an artificial eye. Brooke was proud of her new eye and assured everyone that she could see out of it. Other than the need for some follow-up surgery to the eye socket in June, Brooke life returned to normal. Her lack of vision in her left eye never slowed her down. Her MCV eye doctor prescribed protective glasses for Brooke to wear when she played.
Brooke started to preschool in the fall of 1998 and she also started to complain about feeling tired and having specific pains in her legs and arms. After several visits to her pediatrician, some X-rays of her arms and legs, and some blood tests, it became obvious that something was wrong with Brooke. By her 4th birthday, Brooke had a noticeable limp, was lethargic, and had a low grade fever most of the time. Once again she was taken to MCV where she went through some of the same series of tests that she had done in April, but this time the bone scan indicated that she had a number of bone lesions in her upper extremities, chest, and pelvic region which indicated that the cancer from her eye had spread to her bones. She was hospitalized in December of 1998 and bone lesions were also found on her skull and a biopsy of one of the skull lesions confirmed that she had bone cancer. A bone marrow aspiration was taken and cancer cells were present in her bone marrow too. As the doctors described it, Brooke had cancer in two major "organs" of her body, her bones and her bone marrow. The cancer that she had was the metatasis of the retinoblastoma. Her condition was known as extraocular retinoblastoma, which was a very rare form of cancer.
Brooke's parents were told that there were no known successful treatment protocols to cure Brooke's cancer. However there were some experimentation with bone marrow transplants for similar forms of cancer, but these held great risk. The doctors informed the parents that Brooke prognosis of survival without treatment was 2-12 months. After consultation with the doctors at MCV, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and email correspondence with Doctors and parents with children with retinoblastoma, Brooke's parents elected to attempt to extend Brooke's life and reduce her pain with chemotherapy and radiation.
With Brooke's dismal prognosis, Brooke and her family turned to God in prayer for strength and healing. They also turned to their church family at Bellamy United Methodist Church to join them in praying, but also in helping them meet the financial strains of a major illness in the family.
"
REST IN PEACE.
"
Brooke's Story
Up until April of 1998, Brooke at the age of three had had a normal infancy and toddlehood with the usual childhood ear infections and fevers. Our baby sitter called our attention to Brooke's left eye that appeared to have a clouded pupil. Our pediatrician immediately suggested that Brooke could have retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer found exclusively in infants and young children. Within a week of our first noticing of Brooke's unusual eye, she underwent CAT scans, blood tests, x-rays, bone marrow aspirations, and bone scans at the Massey Cancer Center of the Medical College of Virginia to determine if the cancer in the eye was localized to her eye. Her left eye was enucleated (removed) along with the optic nerve in a matter of days and she was fitted with an orbital implant on which a prosthetic eye could be placed. All the tests on Brooke done in April of 1998 indicated that the removal of her eye "cured" her of further cancer and there was only a 10,000 to one chance that her cancer would reoccur.
During the summer of 1998, Brooke was fitted with an artificial eye. Brooke was proud of her new eye and assured everyone that she could see out of it. Other than the need for some follow-up surgery to the eye socket in June, Brooke life returned to normal. Her lack of vision in her left eye never slowed her down. Her MCV eye doctor prescribed protective glasses for Brooke to wear when she played.
Brooke started to preschool in the fall of 1998 and she also started to complain about feeling tired and having specific pains in her legs and arms. After several visits to her pediatrician, some X-rays of her arms and legs, and some blood tests, it became obvious that something was wrong with Brooke. By her 4th birthday, Brooke had a noticeable limp, was lethargic, and had a low grade fever most of the time. Once again she was taken to MCV where she went through some of the same series of tests that she had done in April, but this time the bone scan indicated that she had a number of bone lesions in her upper extremities, chest, and pelvic region which indicated that the cancer from her eye had spread to her bones. She was hospitalized in December of 1998 and bone lesions were also found on her skull and a biopsy of one of the skull lesions confirmed that she had bone cancer. A bone marrow aspiration was taken and cancer cells were present in her bone marrow too. As the doctors described it, Brooke had cancer in two major "organs" of her body, her bones and her bone marrow. The cancer that she had was the metatasis of the retinoblastoma. Her condition was known as extraocular retinoblastoma, which was a very rare form of cancer.
Brooke's parents were told that there were no known successful treatment protocols to cure Brooke's cancer. However there were some experimentation with bone marrow transplants for similar forms of cancer, but these held great risk. The doctors informed the parents that Brooke prognosis of survival without treatment was 2-12 months. After consultation with the doctors at MCV, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and email correspondence with Doctors and parents with children with retinoblastoma, Brooke's parents elected to attempt to extend Brooke's life and reduce her pain with chemotherapy and radiation.
With Brooke's dismal prognosis, Brooke and her family turned to God in prayer for strength and healing. They also turned to their church family at Bellamy United Methodist Church to join them in praying, but also in helping them meet the financial strains of a major illness in the family.
"
REST IN PEACE.
