A visit to the Palmerston Hospital by a Moorefield family resulted in a medical diagnosis the family was not expecting.
In an email, Erica Klaassen explained that in December 2016 her four-year-old son Jakob was taken to the hospital with what the family thought was a flu bug or possibly appendicitis.
An ultrasound revealed a mass on Jakob’s kidney and Jakob and Erica were immediately transported by ambulance to London.
At London’s Victoria Hospital tests confirmed the mass on Jakob’s kidney was a tumour. A fever from an unknown source forced Jakob to be quarantined in hospital for five days awaiting surgery to remove the tumour.
During the surgery the kidney was also removed as the tumour had ruptured slightly, was bleeding into the kidney and had spread into an artery. Doctors confirmed the mass was a stage 3 Wilms’ tumour. An adjustment to Jakob’s radiation treatments to a more aggressive regimen was made to accommodate the diagnosis.
Wilms’ tumour, also known as nephroblastoma, is a rare kidney cancer in children aged three to four. It usually occurs in one kidney, but can be found in both at the same time.
Advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of Wilms’ tumour have improved the outlook for children with the disease. No cause has been discovered.
Beginning on Dec. 29, Jakob underwent 12 consecutive days of radiation treatments at Victoria Hospital. With each treatment Jakob was sedated. Over a 28-week period, 15 chemotherapy treatments consisting of three different drugs were administered.
Last treatment
Jakob’s last chemotherapy treatment occurred on June 27 and Jakob was declared cancer free.
As a cancer survivor, Jakob received a special “Terry’s Team member” shirt to wear at this year’s Terry Fox Run.
A student at Maryborough Public School in Moorefield, Jakob raised $630 for the Terry Fox Foundation, the highest amount raised by a student or family at the school.
Teacher Jodi Adams offered to let the child or family with the highest amount of money raised pick the color of her hair dye.
As the winner, Jakob picked “hot lava red” for Adams. During the Terry Fox assembly held on Oct. 13 at the school, Adams revealed her new hair colour.
A total of $2,195 was raised by students and staff at the school during the Terry Fox Run. Teachers from various classes offered to wear their clothes backwards, let their students decorate their hair and one Toronto Maple Leaf fan sported a Montreal Canadiens onesie for the day.
Students in Karen Shantz’s Grade 3/4 class had their teacher put her arm in a bucket of “cow patty.”
Two other teachers were pied in the face and three teachers became human sundaes with toppings including whipped cream, sprinkles and different flavours of syrup along with a bright red cherry on top.
Duct taped to the portable was the designated spot for another teacher. The assembly ended with principal Shelley Grose kissing a calf.
Jakob will have follow-up appointments including a scan every three months to ensure he remains cancer free. The appointments will become less frequent as time passes, but he will continue to have heart and kidney monitoring for the remainder of his life.
