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Duncan Avery thought his son was imitating his older sister when he said that his head hurt.
The other child of Avery, Kalea, 6, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor a week earlier. She had just undergone surgery to remove the mass.
Now, Noah, 4, pointed to a point between her eyebrows, the same place where Kalea complained of pain.
Then Noah vomited. He began to walk strangely, his small body tilted to the right
On June 21, an MRI revealed that Noah also had cancer . A tumor that resembled that of his sister, in the same part of the brain.
"We broke down in tears," said Avery, who lives in Torrance. "How do two 14-day-old children have exactly the same tumor?" How does this happen? "
There seems to be no precedent for twin diagnoses. Doctors say that they are surprised that the two children developed symptoms within a few days of each other.
It is rare for brothers and sisters to develop brain cancer, even the same type of brain cancer, but not at the same time. "We've probably seen this," said Dr. Sonia Partap, a professor at Stanford University who studies brain tumors in children.
At the end of May, Kalea vomited on a Sunday morning. She looked good, and her parents wrote her up like an upset stomach.
It was the Memorial Day weekend. She played with her cousins at a family barbecue. She tied her yellow helmet and skateboarded with her father, skillfully guiding around a U-shaped halfpipe.
But later that week, Kalea started saying that she had headache. His mother, Nohea, took her to the emergency room.
There, the doctors discovered a mass in the girl's brain. "title =" "/>
Doctors explained that it was safe to take care of them. was a medulloblastoma, an aggressive tumor in the back of Approximately 1965 children are diagnosed in the United States each year, but it is unclear exactly what causes them.
The diagnosis was heartbreaking.
Treatment usually involves surgery to remove the tumor, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.Of course, the cancer does not return, each stage of the treatment carries with it serious risks.
Kalea suffered a four-hour surgery on June 11. In a few weeks, "we move from a healthy little girl who does skateboarding." Duncan, 36.
Duncan, who is a surf coach at Redondo Union High School, and Nohea, a nurse practitioner, soon also started playing soccer. worry about Noah.
Juice At two years apart, Noah and Kalea often played together. They are both shy, with the same broad forehead and rounded cheeks.
Their parents noticed that while Kalea was in the hospital, Noah started napping every day, showing her head and walking a little strangely. Noah was depressed. He understood; he was sad too. His eldest son, who he had started learning to surf last summer, was sick. He could not say his name without tearing.
But Duncan took Noah to the pediatrician, just in case.
Lauren Nguyen examined Noah. She already knew what was happening with Kalea.
She also knew that medulloblastomas grow near the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance and movement. Although Kalea has not had such symptoms, a wobbly gait may be a sign of this type of tumor.
"When I watched Noah walk down the hall, my heart dropped," Nguyen said. "But, of course, lightning could strike twice"
The tests revealed that Noah's medulloblastoma was even greater than that of his sister
"Brain cancer in children is common". "It could be random, but probably not."
Doctors say that siblings probably have something in their genes that makes them vulnerable to this type of cancer. Everywhere, Partap said, "It's not in the water in Los Angeles."
Doctors test the family for some hereditary syndromes that make people more likely to develop brain cancers.
It is also possible that they have a genetic mutation that predisposes children to medulloblastomas that have not been discovered. Scientists have identified mutations in several genes that increase the risk of various cancers, the best known of which are in the BRCA gene and are related to breast cancer
"Perhaps the reason we are put on this Earth, we can find the gene that causes medulloblastoma," says Duncan.
The chronology of the symptoms of Avery's children is remarkable, say the experts.
In the scientific literature, there are about 10 cases of sibling medulloblastoma A 1990 article described a sibling who had developed tumors at 12 months apart, but most of the examples speak of tumors that distinguished themselves at intervals
. Ramin Javahery, the Medical Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Miller Children & Women's Hospital in Long Beach, had already operated on Kalea when he received a call regarding a new patient with a brain tumor
"I thought: it's odd," says Javahery. "It was not in my thoughts that I could bring in his brother." I assumed it was somebody's daddy. other … Then the oncologist told me what was going on, and I thought to myself: "Oh, my God."
Javahery operated Noah On Monday he was able to completely remove the tumors of Noah and Kalea.None of the masses seems to be spread to other parts of the brain or body of children.
The chance to survive five years for both children is about 80%, he said.After crossing the five year mark, it is unlikely that the cancer will come back, he said.
"With young radiant children, you can affect essentially every part of the brain, but the way it manifests itself is mostly cognitive. It severely delays cognitive development, "said Dr. Anthony Wang, who studies pediatric brain tumors at UCLA.
Kalea and Noah may need years of speech therapy, 39, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, according to the experts
that you speak about the life of your child.You also talk about what their future holds for them.So, yes, will my child survive? they survive? "says Duncanhery.
Duncan says that he knows his family still has a long way to go.
Soon, they plan to transfer to the Los Angeles Children's Hospital, he says. He wants to bring the children together, so they wait a few days for Noah to recover from his operation.
"Everyone says their kids are best friends, but our kids are 100% best friends," Duncan said. "We'll go see them and they'll say," Go away, mom, go in, dad, we're just playing. "
When Noah was admitted to the hospital last week, he was sent to the same parish as his sister. It was a floor for cancer patients. Their rooms were one next to the other
Twitter: @skarlamangla
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