In honour of Hepatoblastoma Awareness Day, the mother of three-year-old Greta Marofke posted a video her little girl dancing happily just two weeks after receiving a liver transplant.
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“For #hepatoblastomaawarenessday I wanted to share this video of Greta the other night,” a caption for the video reads. “Just over two weeks post liver transplant. This is our reality! These kids have so much more life left to live! We need to do better for them! It has been a LONG, hard road to get here and we have a long hard road still ahead. We need to support research for these rare childhood cancers!”
The video was posted on the Greta’s Guardians Facebook page, a page devoted to providing friends and family with updates on Marofke’s health and treatment progress.
Marofke was diagnosed with hepatablastoma, a rare form of pediatric liver cancer shortly before her second birthday.
Although the cancer was initially put into remission, the disease returned.
Marofke’s parents were told their little girl would need a liver transplant in order to have any chance at surviving this cancer but, after reviewing the girl’s case, transplant teams in both Alberta and Ontario refused to do the surgery.
Undeterred, Marofke’s mom reached out to a cancer specialist in the U.S. and earlier this month, the three-year-old had liver transplant surgery at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Marofke is now undergoing chemotherapy in Cincinnati.
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“She is now on chemo to hopefully get all the cancer cells to prevent it from coming back,” her mother Lindsey said in an e-mail to Global News.
“She will probably have four more rounds of chemo. We will be here in Cincinnati for up to three months while we watch her closely for signs of rejection and get her medical levels right.”
The family is now fundraising to cover Marofke’s medical bills. Because her transplant was done outside of Canada, the surgery and after-care are not being covered by Alberta Health. So far, more that $305,000 has been raised via a Go Fund Me page.
According to Stanford Children’s health, hepatablastoma is a very rare cancerous tumour that starts in the liver. The cancer primarily affects children from infancy to about three years of age. Symptoms include:
- A large abdominal mass, or swollen abdomen
- Weight loss, decreased appetite
- Early puberty in boys
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea and vomiting
- Jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin)
- Fever
- Itching skin
- Enlarged veins on the belly that can be seen through the skin
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