On February 2, 2012, Team Aubri will host a second blood drive at Houchin Community Blood Bank in honor of a special little girl who has beaten neuroblastoma. While Aubri was lucky enough not to need red blood cells, platelets or plasma during her treatment, other children being treated along side her did. Team Aubri knows first hand how important blood donors are to cancer patients like Aubri, and so they want to encourage more people to give blood. Here is Aubri’s story as told by her Mom, Lori:

The greatest moment in my life was the moment Aubri was born.  At 37 weeks gestation, Aubri was delivered emergency c-section on Saturday April 17, 2010 at 4:22 AM.  My healthy baby girl weighed 7lbs 6oz and measured in at 21in long.

On Aubri’s 6 month birthday, we noticed something different about her right eye.  Her pupil wasn’t nearly the same size as her left, and the upper eyelid was droopy.  It appeared as though she had gotten bit by something, or had an allergic reaction.  Being the typical new mom, I jumped on the computer to see what the problem could be.  I ran across something called Horner’s Syndrome and the fear immediately set in.  A couple days later, we took Aubri to the doctor and she was referred to a specialist who diagnosed her with Horner’s Syndrome.  Horner’s Syndrome is an effect caused by something interfering with the sympathetic nerve that affects the movement and blood flow to the eye.  The causes can range from birth trauma to a tumor.

After Aubri’s diagnosis, she had an MRI done.  During the MRI, a 1cm x 2cm mass was found at the back of her neck.  This mass was found to be the cause of Aubri’s Horner’s Syndrome.  In less than 2 weeks from Aubri’s MRI, we had a biopsy done at CHLA and she was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma.
The mass in Aubri’s neck was a lymph node responding to a small tumor attached to it.  With the sensitivity of the location, the tumor could not be removed.  Biopsies showed malignancies in both the tumor and the lymph node.

Aubri was then admitted at Children’s Hospital and spent 7 days undergoing testing.  Aubri had a bone scan, bone marrow aspiration, CT scan and MIBG scans to determine if the cancer was anywhere else in her body.  All of the scans showed the cancer was isolated and had not spread.

Ultimately, Aubri had a total of four courses of chemotherapy. Thankfully, the follow up scans showed NO SIGN OF CANCER, and the tumor was half it’s original size.  Hooray!!!I immediately started sobbing.  Six months of built up emotions, fear and anxiety streamed down my face.  Three months later, Aubri’s first quarterly MRI showed that the tumor was GONE!!  Since then, her follow-up hearing, echo and eye exams showed no damage from the chemo.  I couldn’t have asked for better news or a better outcome!

Aubri is VERY VERY lucky she was diagnosed at stage 2B.  Most Neuroblastoma patients are diagnosed at later stages and some don’t see their 5th birthday.  The fact we caught Aubri’s Neuroblastoma so early is a huge blessing!  Aubri went the entire six months without catching anything with her compromised immune system, experienced no unplanned hospital stays, and did not need to have her platelets or blood replenished.  Phenomenal!

Support from family and friends had helped us through what was and will be the most difficult trial Aubri and I have ever gone through or will face in our lives.  I utilized social media sites such as Facebook and CaringBridge to keep my family and friends apprised of Aubri’s condition.  Thru these websites I found a tremendous amount of support, prayers and well wishes for Aubri and our family and it made our journey much more uplifting and overall a positive experience.

I’m amazed at how much good came from such a horrible thing!!  During Aubri’s Journey I found peace with her diagnosis by advocating for additional cancer research funding, and holding blood and bone marrow drives to replenish the blood supply used by our local pediatric cancer patients and to help find bone marrow matches to increase survival odds for our community’s patients.  As Aubri’s Mommy, I found these were the things I could do to help her and other similarly affected children. The rest was out of my hands.  Aubri may have beaten her Neuroblastoma but there are other Soldier’s fighting the same battle.  It’s going to take an army to fight this war.