When Leann Borden’s daughter Lillian was born last September, she and her husband were over the moon. Imagine how terrified they were when doctors told them she had brain cancer after noticing she wasn’t moving her arms or legs properly.
Little Lillian fought this cruel disease for the first few months of her life, but she just got the all-clear and can now go home with Mommy and Daddy.
Lily had a type of tumor called a stage three to four malignant glioma on her brainstem. This type of tumor is usually not treatable. Her parents were worried as fights with the insurance company went on. In the end, they were able to get genetic testing and targeted chemotherapy approved.
Chemotherapy was approved because it was a new way to treat Lily’s type of cancer. As her family fought hard, scans showed great results in the end. In the third week after Lily’s treatment, an MRI showed that there was no sign of cancer at all.
Baby Lillian drew a crowd of caregivers as she rang the end-of-treatment bell after 5 months of #chemo for a tumor on her brain stem. Lillian is doing great, after surgery and #PrecisionMedicine that targeted her tumor! "We can finally exhale," her mom, Leann, says. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/zAp4xc8o9w
— UCSFChildrensOakland (@UCSFBenioffOAK) January 29, 2020
Lily finally went home with her parents when she was two months old. Even though there were no signs of cancer, the doctors kept treating her for another three weeks. She got stronger, and it was confirmed that she didn’t have cancer, which you can read more about it here.
The day everyone had been waiting for had finally come. Lily and her mother rang the hospital’s special bell to celebrate the end of her treatment. Lily had finally won her battle with cancer.
