OLDS — A teen battling an extremely rare form of brain cancer appears to be recovering well from her latest surgery, her mom indicated on Saturday.
On June 27, Keiran Hall, 14, of Olds, complained of migraine headaches and started vomiting.
She was taken to hospital. That in turn led to a trip to Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre where a CT scan revealed growth and fluid in her brain, so she was sent to Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.
Keiran was diagnosed with a papillary tumour of the pineal region in the brain.
Doctors have told her mom, Chandra, that that tumour is extremely rare, especially in children.
“Only about 100 adults a year get it, between Canada and the United States,” Chandra wrote in an email to the Albertan.
Keiran has undergone several surgeries.
“There’s very little knowledge about the tumour and so the best thing to treat it with that they have knowledge of right now is to go back in for a third surgery and remove it,” Chandra wrote earlier.
The latest operation on Keiran to remove the tumour occurred on Aug. 17.
It took a while for her to recover.
“Yesterday was a much better day," Chandra wrote in an email Saturday morning.
“Once Keiran was taken off a medication called Midazolam she perked up and was much more herself.”
Chandra said doctors and specialists plan to meet today as a board (Tuesday, Aug. 23) to discuss her case further.
That’s because Keiran’s case is so rare “there is no common treatment with similar outcome,” she wrote.
“Every case with this tumour around the world has a different treatment with different outcomes and majority are adults.
“Therefore, the tumour board is tasked with studying each case individually and putting together a chemo radiation plan that they think is best tailored for Keiran.”
Small victories are prized.
“Today Keiran has (gotten) got out of bed and walked to the bathroom,” Chandra wrote Saturday.
“This was the goal for today and she had it checked off by 7:00 this morning.
“She is much more alert.”
“The surgeons are most amazed that Keiran’s eyes were not affected during surgery,” Chandra added.
“They were expecting her to have permanent optic palsy (eyeballs that rotate in different directions, due to paralyzed muscles).”
During the latest operation, a tiny bit of the tumour that was found was left in Keiran’s brain.
“The reason for some of tumour being left is due to it being extremely close to parts of her brain that control breathing and heart rate, therefore being far too dangerous to try and remove,” Chandra wrote.
There was some talk of Keiran undergoing radiation and chemotherapy to get rid of that last bit.
Keiran’s many visits to the hospital and multiple surgeries have been hard on the whole family, especially Chandra and dad Riley Paul, as they’ve had to take a lot of time off work to be there for her.
And that’s just after Riley, a welder, started a new job in order to be closer to home. Chandra works in long-term care facilities in Olds and Sundre as well as Olds and Sundre Home Care.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help cover living expenses such as rent, car loans, bills, and groceries. As of Aug. 21, $7,945 had been raised toward a $20,000 goal.
The whole ordeal has very been stressful and emotional.
Earlier on, a scope that went into Keiran’s brain affected her short-term memory, eyesight and ability to walk. She also showed signs of optic palsy at that time.
Chandra says Keiran’s siblings -- Rhianne, 13, Jayla, four and Everett, two -- seem to be coping well.
“They seem to be pretty good,” she said during an interview. “I think my four-year-old is affected the most by it because I’m not home with them when Keiran’s in surgery.”
An aunt has helped support the family while in Calgary and Riley’s sister has helped bring the youngest kids to and from daycare.
Through it all, Chandra says Keiran has been holding up well.
“She is a pretty positive girl about it,” she said. “She’s a really big comedian. That’s just her coping mechanism.”
Chandra is very grateful for all the various doctors and specialists have done for Keiran as well as for all the support from friends, family and those who have given to the GoFundMe campaign.
