Bayler Teal continues battle against cancer
Bayler Teal, a resident of Bishopville, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer, in September 2008. He was 5 at the time. Since then time, he has endured several rounds of chemotherapy, bisection to remove the tumor in his abdomen, and a stem cell transplant.
When his health recently took a downturn, his doctors in Columbia tried to get him into an experimental study in a hospital in New York. To determine if he is eligible for the study, several tests had to be run. A bone marrow scan found there were no cancer cells in his bones, but a spinal tap found cancer cells in his spinal fluid. He was sedated for an two hour MRI on Tuesday Oct. 20), and the oncologists reported that Bayler now has a tumor on his upper spine. It has not yet reached the spinal cord, but it is in a very dangerous area. If it is not treated the tumor could affect his upper extremities and respiration.
Bayler is to start radiation treatments today (Oct. 22) to try to shrink this tumor. Please keep Bayler and his family in your prayers.
You can read Bayler’s story and his mom’s journal entries at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/baylerteal/mystory.
Stage 4 neuroblastoma is a very hard cancer to beat. My heart goes out to this family. My daughter survived neuroblastoma, but she was diagnosed at Stage 2B, and although she will never fully recover, she beat the cancer. I pray that Bayler will be as fortunate.
Sherry F. Malphus
sherryfm
Sorry about the sloppy sentence structure and typos in this article, but I was in a hurry at the time. I am excited to be back on hvtd!