CRESTVIEW — Seralyn Welch’s mom is matter-of-fact. Within 15 years, the 7-year-old will develop so many polyps in her colon that treating the malignant ones will be difficult.
Soon thereafter, her lower intestine will have to be removed.
“She will wind up with a colostomy bag at 30,” Christy Welch said.
Which is better than the alternative should the cancerous polyps not be detected.
“If they’re not caught, she will be dead by 20,” Welch said.
But Seralyn, whose rare hepatoblastoma was diagnosed at 8 months old, is a fighter.
“I’m a survivor,” she says in a video on her Girl Scout troop’s Relay for Life page. “I roar against cancer. ROAR!”
She can’t wait to take to the Crestview High School track for Friday’s 12-hour relay, which commemorates the longest night of a cancer patient’s life: when he or she receives the diagnosis.
“She is 7 and active and loves everything and thinks Relay for Life is the best birthday party,” Welch said. “She tickled everybody last year because she kept saying, ‘This is the best party I ever had.’
EARLY DETECTION
Welch said she and her husband, Okaloosa EMS paramedic William Welch, noticed the first sign of Seralyn’s cancer when she was 2 days old.
“We were rubbing her back and found bumps on her back,” Christy Welch said. “She was my fifth baby, so I am quite experienced with babies and this was not normal.”
A battery of tests began, beginning with an ultra sound, which proved inconclusive, so doctors followed up with an MRI.
“They found pocket masses, one at the top of her neck at her spine, one underneath her right shoulder blade and one on her spine at her lower back,” Welch said.
William’s paramedic partner’s sister lost a child to hepatoblastoma, so the disorder was on their radar.
“The odds of someone actually knowing someone whose baby was lost to this thing are so huge,” Christy said. “We kept pushing the doctors to test for it. ‘Can we test for it? Can we test for it?’ They said it was so rare it was impossible.”
‘GOD GUIDED OUR HANDS’
Biopsy results on one of the masses were inconclusive. Then the oncologist found something while examining Seralyn.
“He grabbed the MRI and realized it was on her liver,” Welch said.
He found a 2-by-2-centimeter mass.
“In seven weeks, it grew to about the size of a golf ball,” Welch said. “Because of the rapid growth they were very concerned.”
The family took Seralyn to have the mass removed, and that’s when the hepatoblastoma cancer was discovered.
“They didn’t even let us go home,” Welch said. “It was supposed to be a minor surgery. We decided to do chemo that night because it’s a very aggressive.”
Seralyn’s hepatoblastoma is a symptom of Gardner’s syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes usually benign tumors to form in various organs. She currently has about 70 polyps in her colon and 30 in her stomach, and has annual colonoscopies to assure none are cancerous.
However, neither Christy or William carry the gene.
“Hers was a mutation, which is 1 in 7 million chance,” Christy said.
When it came time to have Seralyn’s liver resectioned when she was 5 months old, the family believe God led them to the University of Florida’s Shands Cancer Hospital in Gainesville.
“We found the most amazing surgeon,” Christy said. “God guided our hands. The doctor was beyond fabulous.”
‘SHE IS STILL FIGHTING’
Seralyn has hearing loss and some vision loss from the chemo treatment, “and some developmental issues,” Christy said. “At school she’ll hit little bumps, and we have to figure out what’s happening. It is very normal for infants with this.”
Seralyn’s Crestview Girl Scout Troop 1318 looks forward to the Relay for Life and supporting their friend, Christy said.
Because Girl Scout rules prohibit troops from raising money for other causes, Christy said the girls are treating their It’s a Girl Thing team’s participation as a community service.
“But that doesn’t mean they can’t donate,” she said.
Seralyn will march around the track Friday night just as eagerly as her troopmates.
“Her journey is not over,” Christy said. “She is still fighting cancer. It’s a crazy story. We really believe she has a special purpose to be here.”
—
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: Crestview Relay for Life
WHEN: 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., April 22-23
WHERE: Crestview High School, 1250 Ferdon Blvd. N.
Notes: 38 teams with 303 participants will walk the high school track in the annual American Cancer Society fundraiser. Visit http://bit.ly/1Ve5Z2B for information on volunteering, walking or donating.
BY THE NUMBERS
2 days: Serlayn Welch’s age when parents discovered abnormal bumps on her back
5 months: Age when she had a liver resection
8 months: Age when she was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma
150: Total cases of hepatoblastoma annually diagnosed in the U.S.
300: Total cases of hepatoblastoma annually diagnosed in the world
1 in 7 million: Chances of a child having hepatoblastoma when neither parent carries the gene
WHAT IS HEPATOBLASTOMA?
Hepatoblastoma is a rare tumor (an abnormal tissue growth) that originates in cells in the liver. It is the most common cancerous liver tumor in early childhood.
Hepatoblastoma cancer cells also can spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body. The most common site of metastasis is the lungs.
Hepatoblastoma primarily affects children from infancy to about 5 years of age. Most cases appear during the first 18 months of life.
Hepatoblastoma affects white children more frequently than black children, and is more common in boys than girls up to about age 5, when the gender difference disappears. It occurs more frequently in children who were born very prematurely (early) with very low birth weights.
Source: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: Crestview Relay for Life
WHEN: 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., April 22-23
WHERE: Crestview High School, 1250 Ferdon Blvd. N.
Notes: 38 teams with 303 participants will walk the high school track in the annual American Cancer Society fundraiser. Visit http://bit.ly/1Ve5Z2B for information on volunteering, walking or donating.
BY THE NUMBERS
2 days: Serlayn Welch’s age when parents discovered abnormal bumps on her back
5 months: Age when she had a liver resection
8 months: Age when she was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma
150: Total cases of hepatoblastoma annually diagnosed in the U.S.
300: Total cases of hepatoblastoma annually diagnosed in the world
1 in 7 million: Chances of a child having hepatoblastoma when neither parent carries the gene
WHAT IS HEPATOBLASTOMA?
Hepatoblastoma is a rare tumor (an abnormal tissue growth) that originates in cells in the liver. It is the most common cancerous liver tumor in early childhood.
Hepatoblastoma cancer cells also can spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body. The most common site of metastasis is the lungs.
Hepatoblastoma primarily affects children from infancy to about 5 years of age. Most cases appear during the first 18 months of life.
Hepatoblastoma affects white children more frequently than black children, and is more common in boys than girls up to about age 5, when the gender difference disappears. It occurs more frequently in children who were born very prematurely (early) with very low birth weights.
Source: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Want to Go, By the Numbers and more on hepatoblastoma
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Girl Scouts walking in Crestview Relay for troop-mate with cancer
