Zoe is a bright, funny, creative, and sweet 7 year-old little girl. She loves dancing, science experiments, swimming, water parks, haunted houses and magic shows. Zoe loves arts and crafts, and sees a good art project in something I would have thrown away.
Zoe Playing Dress-up at Home
One Friday morning in December 2008, I noticed Zoe’s breathing did not seem normal. She seemed to be panting. I figured she was fine and had just been out of breath from running around getting ready for school. The night before, she was at a nursing home singing Christmas carols with her Brownie troop. She had a little cough, but at the time all the kids were getting sick. That afternoon, Zoe went to dance class as usual, came home, ate dinner, had a bath, fought with her brother a little and got ready for bed. While I was reading her a book, I noticed her breathing was still shallow. Something just didn’t feel right. I waited until she fell asleep to see if she was able to breathe more deeply in her sleep. She was still panting. I decided to take her to the pediatric urgent care.
After taking X-rays, the doctor at urgent care ambulanced her to the hospital. More than half her chest was whited out and they thought it was pneumonia. The next day we learned that it was actually a solid mass inside her chest. They quickly helicoptered her to Jackson Memorial hospital in Miami. Zoe had emergency surgery Sunday morning to remove a giant soccer ball sized tumor from her chest. It had completely crushed her left lung and was beginning to crush her heart and trachea. When the surgeon told us the tumor was out, our relief was short- lived when he said the word “CANCER.” This is when our lives completely changed overnight. The tumor was diagnosed as a rare and aggressive form of cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma.
Easter in the Hospital
Zoe responded amazingly well to the chemo and radiation with little to no side effects. Sometimes I sit and think, ‘how did this happen?’ I know it happens, but you never think it will happen to your family. You pray it will never happen to your child. But it did, and it seems so unreal at times, like a bad dream. But it is our reality and we get up every morning and do what we need to do to successfully get through the days of our new lives. Our main objective right now is to do anything and everything it takes to save our daughter, Zoe.
-Vicky Farrell, Zoe’s Mom
