The Whole Story
Aiden is so strong and so brave.  He is also very loving, caring, and very polite.  He is full of life, excitement, curiousity and energy.  He enriches our lives with so much love and pride.  We are so proud of you Aiden!
Aiden Alexander is an extremely adorable boy who loves every minute of every day.  He's always smiling, playing, running around and putting smiles on all of our faces.
It was June 2004 when we began to notice changes in our little Aiden.  He was beginning to lose his eye sight. But, like aiden would say, no, no, no, no, no,  that didn't stop him. He just started tripping over things he couldn't see on the floor.  We just thought that Aiden was clumsy and was adjusting to his new home that we had just moved into.
One weekend, we headed up to the Warren camp outside Atikokan.  Over just a few days, Aidens vision got worse. In Thunder Bay, we brought Aiden to an optometrist who told us that the problem was not with his eyes, but with the nerve behind it. Then we saw our family doctor on Monday, and finally Aiden's pediatrician , who ordered CT scans and an MRI of Aiden's head.

The news they told us was unimaginable to us. 

They found what looked like three tumors surrounding the optic nerve of Aidens brain, blinding him completely.
With so many questions and so many worries we were quickly sent out to Toronto's Sick Kids hospital.

We spent three weeks on a neurosurgery floor where they did many more tests and scans until they discovered another tumor on the adrenal gland near Aiden's left kidney.

The tumor on Aiden's adrenal gland was removed without complication on October 21st. A tumor originating on the adrenal gland is a tell tale sign of Neuroblastoma.  However, to know for sure, they had to do a biopsy of the tumor in Aiden's head.

The biopsy was done and it confirmed their suspiscions.
Finally, some answers.
Not the answers we wanted to hear...
Aiden was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma in June 2004, and has been recieving treatment on the oncology unit at the Hospital for Sick Children since then.
Aiden had 6 rounds of chemotherapy with 5 different high dose chemo drugs and radiation of the tumor in his head and abdomen.
Aidens Protocol

He has also had what is called "consolidation chemotherapy" which is an even higher dose of chemo drugs than before.  Followed by a Stem Cell / Bone Marrow Transplant.




The Stem Cell/Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT):

Done on the 14th of December.
The BMT gave Aidens body a chance to start over producing new cells free of disease.  During this time Aiden is extremely susceptible to infection.  Anyone who is sick could not be around him at all.

The doctors and nurses said that he could be in the isolation phase for anywhere between 20 days (starting on the day of the BMT) up to three months.  I have read that it could be even longer than that.

Aiden was in isolation for 10 days! He was in step-down isolation for 23 days. In total he was on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit for 33 days (which seemed like forever).

Aiden had only a few complications throughout, he had a fever for more than six days due to pneumonia.  We were very worried about him.  He was very sick.  They were going to have to do a lung scope because his condition seemed to be getting worse.  He started to engraft the next day.  His breathing slowed, his heart rate came back down and I was literally smiling all day that day.  I was so proud of him, he fought that bug with all of his might and he beat it.
The BMT was a success.  He survived it, and he did so in an incredible amount of time.
We got the results from the MIBG scan.  The cancer is still there, unfortunately, and it didn't decrease enough so they could radiate each spot.  The spots on his spine, however, resolved completely.  And the test itself showed overall improvement from the previous test done in November.  The transplant worked, but not as well as we had hoped and prayed for.
They started to measure and prepare Aiden for radiation the day after he was released from the hospital on January 6th.
Radiation started on January 17, 2005 and ended in two and a half weeks.
Aiden being prepared to recieve radiation
They are restarting him on new chemotherapy in February for approximately nine months.
They are going to start him on a new chemotherapy in February, as soon as his radiation (of the primary tumor site) is complete.  They plan to administer two drugs, five days in a row, in three week intervals; over approximately nine months. 
They didn't say how effective the treatment was, but they are expecrting the treatment to maintain the cancer at the state it is in now.
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