Redwood City, CA
1-800-348-8911

Marissa Monroe
17-month old Daughter of St. Joseph (MI) Dispatcher

12-16-2006 Update

Dear 911 CARES

My name is Tracy Monroe & my co worker Candace had e-mailed you in reference to our 17 month old, Marissa, who has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma. I just wanted to give an update on her condition.

She falls into the high risk category which is much harder to treat. She will undergo a total of 7 rounds of chemo, stem cell rescue, radiation, followed by 6 months of retnoic acid. The total time for treatment will be about 18 months. She has already had her first round of chemo & seems to be doing well with it.

We are now back in the hospital due to a fever that she's been having. They admitted us last night & we are still here tonight & it's unkown how long we will be here. When she gets a fever, they like to admit the patient into the hospital to start antibiotics just as a precaution. So far, they haven't found an infection, but her white blood cell count is very low, so they are keeping her in the hospital until it goes up. Unfortunately, she can't walk around the halls or go to the toy room because the risk of her getting sick is too high, it could be something as simple as a person who is sick coughing or sneezing near her.

Our other daughter, Makenzie, is doing well, I don't really think that she understands exactly what is going on. I would like to thank everyone for the e-mails & their thoughts & prayers. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, as we will have a very long road to travel to recovery.

It was quite a shock finding out about her cancer. She had a black eye for 4 weeks so my husband took her to the doctor's & they just said it didn't appear to be fractured & sent them home. 2 wks later, she still had her black eye, so I took her & saw a different doctor & he knew that a black eye, also called "racoon eyes", is a symptom of Neuroblastoma.

Also, I thought that Candace had sent you pictures of Marissa for the web site? We are also keeping an up to date journal on www.caringbridge.org/visit/marissamonroe Thank you and 911 CARES for everything they have done!

Tracy Monroe
911 dispatcher
St Joseph County, MI

Return to Top
Return to Home Page