Tenth birthdays are supposed to be filled with laughter, cake and fun. Instead, Rheanna Trepanier was told she is dying.
On Halloween, Rheanna was at school when she started feeling ill.
“My eyes were hurting and I got headaches. I was shaking and then I was sick to my stomach,” she explained.
Doctors at Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital quickly diagnosed her and the news wasn’t good.
“They sat me down and told me that they found four brain tumours and that they needed to do surgery right away,” Rheanna’s mom, Marissa Trepanier, explained.
“It was the longest nine hours of our lives. Sitting there, waiting and praying and hoping.”
In the days that followed, Rheanna underwent three brain surgeries and a blood transfusion.
Surgeons tried, unsuccessfully, to remove the largest tumour, which was the size of a golf ball.
“They described it as an angry octopus with tentacles that are reaching out to all parts of her brain,” Marissa said.
Monday was her 10th birthday. That was the day her prognosis went from bad to worse.
“The pathology results were in. They called us in for a meeting to tell us some pretty horrific news,” Marissa recalled.
“The type of cancer she has in her brain is aggressive. There is no cure. With the radiation and the chemo, it’ll help her have some more time with us.”
Rheanna has two different types of brain tumours: anapaestic oligodendroglioma (Grade III) and glioblastoma (Grade IV).
The World Health Organization classifies most brain tumours on a scale from Grade I, (slow growing, usually associated with long-term survival) to Grade IV (abnormal cells that reproduce rapidly, difficult to treat.)
According to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, glioblastomas are the most common and most aggressive type of malignant (cancerous) brain tumour, and are difficult to treat because the cells are very resistant to conventional therapies like chemo.
Oligodendrogliomas are not as aggressive as glioblastomas, but have a very high rate of recurrence and gradually increase in grade over time. They only have two grades: Grade II and Grade III.
Rheanna finds it difficult to talk about how the cancer makes her feel, so she made a list.
“Mad, traumatized, broken,” she said. “Why me? Why not someone who wants to die?”
Her older sister – and best friend – is emotional over the news.
“I feel sort of bad for her because she’s so little. And it’s not fair,” Jade Trepanier said, choking back tears.
Now, with only months to live, Rheanna is chasing her bucket list.
She wants to go horseback riding and dog sledding, watch an Edmonton Oilers game in Rogers Place and meet Connor McDavid.
“Every day is special to us and I want to make all of her wishes and dreams come true,” her mom explained.
“She’s a special little girl and she deserves the best.”
On Thursday, Rheanna and her family went to Build-A-Bear to make stuffed animals for each other. Rheanna put a special wish inside each one for her three other siblings.
Jade showed off her monkey and said, “I thought I’d name it Banana, for Rheanna Banana.”
The family has dropped everything to make memories with Rheanna, but it’s been a challenge. Marissa is a single parent who lost her oil & gas industry job earlier this year.
Watch below: On Thursday night, Global News told you about a young Edmonton girl who recently learned she may only have months to live. She told us about her bucket list over the next few weeks and Edmontonians flooded our newsroom offering to help. Sarah Kraus has the latest.
Strangers helped donate more than $6,000 to ease the family’s financial burden as she battles her tumours.
Her mom is inspired by Rheanna’s courage as she readies to face an aggressive bout of chemotherapy and radiation.
“To be through what she’s been through and to be told what she’s been told and be so strong and so brave about it, she’s amazing.”
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