Please remember this family in your prayers...

shack

A little 7 year old girl that my wife has known since she was a baby died last night. She was a sweetheart and a real fighter who so wanted to live.

Her story:

Emily's story

In January 2007, six-year-old Emily Barger's parents were trying to find a reason for their daughter's stomach pains and fever. Days turned into weeks, and Emily was still feeling very ill.

After many trips to her pediatrician's office and no firm diagnosis, Emily's parents, Brian and Misty, brought her to Children's Hospital for additional help. Emily was diagnosed in the Emergency Department as having a bad case of constipation. But less than 24 hours later, Emily was back in the Children's Hospital Emergency Department, where it was discovered that the root of her stomach pain was something much more serious.

"We went from constipation to cancer in less than 24 hours," said Emily's dad, Brian.

CT scans detected a large tumor on one of Emily's kidneys. At first, Emily's oncologist thought that she had a Wilms tumor, a type of cancer that involves the kidneys. Later tests revealed that Emily actually had Rhabdomyosarcoma, a very rare cancer that only affects about 250 children in the United States each year. This soft tissue cancer generally arises in the muscles, so Emily's specific diagnosis was extremely rare.

A few days after her diagnosis, Emily had the kidney and part of her spleen removed during surgery at Children's Hospital. She spent several days in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) at Children's Hospital after her surgery. Testing later showed that Emily's cancer had not moved into her bone marrow, and her scans looked to be clear in other areas, too. Emily began her regimen of 40 chemotherapy treatments. She completed her radiation treatment in July 2007 as an outpatient in the Hematology/Oncology Clinic. Children's Hospital's Home Health Department monitors her port-a-cath (a surgically implanted central line that delivers medications into a vein) for maintenance and cleanings.

Emily often has to be hospitalized for some of her treatment and has won the hearts of the staff at Children's Hospital, especially on the Second Floor (where Hematology/Oncology patients are hospitalized).

Emily is scheduled to complete her chemotherapy by the end of 2007. She will then begin maintenance therapy and will continue testing to ensure her cancer does not return.

In March of this year she had a clean bill of heath. Unfortunately the cancer came back....with a vengeance. A little over a week ago she had a tumor the size of a football removed from her body. She had been in great pain because of the pressure it was exerting on all of her organs. They put her in a semi-coma after the surgery to try and keep her stabilized to the point they could then try to treat any remnant of the cancer. Last night her body could just not take any more and she lost her fight to live.

Emily is not in pain anymore.

But anyone who knew her or came in contact with her is. Please remember the family and all who knew this little girl in your thoughts and prayers.



PS: Maybe tonight all of you parents should give your kids a hug (if you can), no matter how old they are and just thank God that you haven't had to watch your child go through something like this.

MKZ

Sad story. will pray for her.

shawn474

Stories like this are just heartbraking; I hope that I could be half the person that Emily is given the same situation. Sounds like she touched a lot of people in her short stay here. I will keep her and her family in my thoughts and prayers.

bdaley6509

Prayers sent for her and her family.

steveinaz

Rest in peace sweetheart. Prayers sent.

ohskigod

at least the suffering is over, if there is a silver lining here, thats it.

couldnt begin to imagine what the parents are going through. I've seen alot of loss in my life, losing a kid would put it all to shame.

my best wishes to them.

George Grand

Now I want to see one of our regular clown/fruitcakes post something about how hard their life is because they can't decide between the Saab or BMW. We have a lot of these.

Thanks for posting that Steve.

ohskigod

good point George. You look at something like this, and really try to imagine what it would feel like, then suddenly, your problems dont seem that bad.

janmike

Very sad indeed. Prayers sent.

BTW - Nice post George.

fossy

god bless . RIP Emily.

wingnut4772

Prayers sent..

disneyjoe7

Sad, thoughts and prayers are being sent to the family.