The month of September is recognized as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month so Discover Airdrie thought it was a good time to check in with the mother of a young lady who has, unfortunately, become an expert on the subject because she has battled cancer for her entire life.    

Since she was just three weeks old, 12-year-old Evie Hooper has fought valiantly with the disease. That's when her parents, Veronica and Mike, found out their daughter had a cancer known as bilateral retinoblastoma in both of her eyes.  At one month of age, Evie had her right eye removed.  Bilateral retinoblastoma is a genetic form of cancer and affects all of her nerves.  There is a 50-50 chance that, should Evie have children in the future, they too will have the disease.

Then, two years ago, Evie was diagnosed as having olfactory neuroblastoma in her sinus.  An emergency MRI showed a softball-sized mass growing in her sinus which has metastasized into her lymph nodes.  Since that diagnosis, Evie has undergone rounds of chemotherapy along with major surgery to remove the remainder of the tumor.  After that, she spent two-and-a-half months undergoing 30 rounds of proton radiation treatment in Jacksonville, Florida which, Veronica says, burned her from the inside out and was absolutely horrendous.  Through it all, Evie fought on and never complained.

Now, Veronica brings us up to date on what's been going on in Evie's, and the family's lives, over the past 12 months.  "The past year has been encouraging health-wise.  There's been no new tumor growth and everything seems to be stable, so we're incredibly thankful for that.  She's been going for MRIs every three months and they've been keeping an eye on the primary tumor site and up and down her neck where she had the cancer in her lymph nodes and that's all looking good.  So, all things considered, how her prognosis was even when she finished her treatment last year, we're celebrating."

Veronica says, while things have been good and stable, Evie, like most kids that have gone through cancer treatments, continues to struggle with the secondary side effects.

"She has absolutely no sense of smell.  We don't know if that's ever going to come back and she has a lot of head and neck complications with her mouth and just challenges with the stuff she went through as a baby, being low vision and only having the one eye."  Still, Veronica says they are, overall, very pleased and are looking forward to the day Evie can be considered a cancer survivor, likely another four years.

With everything she's gone through in her young life, you likely wouldn't be surprised if Evie was a bit shy and perhaps even melancholy.  If that is what you think, you'd better think again.  Veronica says her daughter is one of the most positive kids you'll ever meet.

"There's something about these kids that have been through so much.  It takes a lot to shake them.  You know, since March that we've all been locked down because of COVID, everyone kind of got a taste of what it's like to be isolated from the world around you.  And, as much as it's been really hard, she'd just gotten back to school and then we were on lockdown again.  She always found a way to just enjoy her days and laugh.  We continue to be inspired by her every day."

Evie is now back in grade eight at her school and is very excited to see her friends and be part of life.  Although this will be her last year of middle school, you can hardly call Evie a "middle school veteran" since she missed most of grade six and half of grade seven with her cancer treatments.  Evie hopes this year will be one she makes it all the way through.

Veronica can't say enough about the teams of doctors and nurses at the Alberta Children's Hospital, and the team they were under the care of at the hospital in Florida, calling them "loving arms around her."  "They are watching her so closely that, even if things were to change we are confident that they would catch whatever is going on and do their best to take care of her."

The Hooper family lives each day to the fullest and while they don't know what the next four years will hold for Evie, her mom says they are confident that, if anyone is going to kick cancer and do an amazing job, it's going to be Evie. 

 "As much as it is really tempting to look at the future and say, 'yeah, she's going to be doing great,' honestly, we celebrate every day."

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