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At age 2 1/2 , Brent McCreesh was diagnosed with cancer-Stage IV Neuroblastoma. Affecting approximately 650 children in the U.S. every year, Neuroblastoma is a solid tumor that occurs in the immature cells, called neuroblasts, of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for involuntary actions of the body such as blushing, increasing heart rate and pupil dilation. It is the second most common solid tumor in infants, and most children are diagnosed by 2.5 years of age. Researchers believe that neuroblastomas form when normal neuroblasts fail to mature into nerve cells and begin growing and dividing uncontrollably, leading to the growth of cancerous cells. Survival is dependent on age and disease stage. Up to sixty percent of affected children have high risk disease that has metastasized (spread to other parts of the body) by the time they are diagnosed.
A biopsy confirmed Brent’s diagnosis. Two days later, He started chemotherapy as the first step of his treatment using a Children’s Oncology Group protocol. After daily blood transfusions, six rounds of chemo, a dozen surgeries, weeks of radiation, two stem cell transplants and 15 months of isolation, Brent is cancer-free. He goes for checkups twice a year at "Dr. Joe's" and twice a year at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber. The McCreeshes realized that most people are not familiar with the randomness of childhood cancer and especially Neuroblastoma. They recruited everyone from their community who had been helping them out during Brent’s treatment and formed TeamBrent to fight childhood cancer.
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