Childhood Cancer Warrior: Gabriel

On March 29, 2022, Gabriel complained his left shoulder and stomach were hurting.  A trip to the urgent care in Magnolia resulted in a CT Scan.  The Scan revealed an 11cm tumor on his liver that had ruptured.  Gabriel was bleeding internally, causing his abdomen to swell compressing his other organs.  AirMed 12 arrived and flew Gabriel to UTMB Galveston for emergency surgery.  During the 22-minute flight Gabriel lost all of his blood three times causing him to go into Hemorrhagic Shock.

 

Gabriel was rushed into emergency surgery, lasted over 6 hours.  Surgeons were able to stop the bleeding, received countless blood transfusions, resect the ruptured tumor and a majority of his liver. On March 31st, Gabriel went back into surgery for another 5 hours.    Surgeons determined the remaining lobe of his liver contained a large portion of the tumor.  Surgeons and specialists determined it was not worth the risk of complications or more bleeding.  Gabriel remained in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

 

On April 1, 2022, Gabriel was transported to Texas Children’s Hospital via the Kangaroo Crew Mobile Intensive Care Unit and remained in Intensive Care until April 11, when they Confirmed a Diagnosis of Stage 3 Hepatoblastoma Liver Cancer.  At the Time Gabriel was 5 years old.

 

Hepatoblastoma is Malignant meaning it is very infectious and has the potential to get progressively worse and spread to other areas of his body.  They stated because of Gabriels’s age, the size of the ruptured tumor and the way it was discovered is extremely rare.  Hepatoblastoma is a rare type of liver cancer usually found in infants 6mos to 3yoa.

 

Gabriel started Chemotherapy on April 12 and received 6 rounds of chemo that lasted until October of 2022 when he went into partial remission.  Fast Forward two years on May 31, 2024, Gabriel relapsed, and the Cancer Returned, and it was discovered after countless tests, scans, procedures for over a year when his cancer markers started fluctuating.  They located a 2cm tumor resting on his left kidney.  June 21, 2024, Gabriel went back into surgery, and they were able to remove the tumor.  They conducted biopsies of the soft tissue in his chest and abdomen and a biopsy of the walls of his blood vessels.  The biopsies both show cancer cells spread throughout the soft tissue and on the walls of his blood vessels.

 

On July 22, 2024, Gabriel started Chemotherapy a second time.  The therapy consists of six cycles, in 3-week intervals.  Gabriel receives Chemotherapy 5 days straight, 2 days off, 1 day of treatment and 13 days off for six cycles.

 

Gabriel is now 8 years old and is in 2nd Grade but is unable to attend school with his 7year old sister and 9year old brother.  Gabriel attends Homebound School and Tutoring at home.  Gabriel loves everything Pokémon and Dinosaurs and wants to go to the beach when his port is taken out.

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