Shaelynn Sue Kelly

Friends - Many of you know my great friend Sarah (Kelly) Berberich from EIBC. Her younger brother Drew's family needs a lot of prayer. They have a precious 15 month old baby girl - Shaelynn. After taking a spill last Wednesday, they discovered a tumor in her brain about 8 cm. They air lifted her to the U of I hospitals. They orginally thought from the cat scans and MRI that it was not going to be cancerous, but in surgery found out otherwise. I have included their carepage blogs from the hospital. If you are interested in reading their carepage - create an account at http://www.carepages.com/childrenshospitalofiowa. Shaelynn's page is "shaelynnsue."

1 February 17, 2007 at 10:43 AM CST
Family and Friends,
An update about Shaelynn Sue. So on Wednesday, February 14th Shaelynn took a fall about 10 inches off of a chair that sits on the floor and hit the back of her head. I did not think too much of it but watched her and she wanted to go "nigh, nigh" so she took a long nap about 2-1/2 hours and woke up, had lunch, played with Drew and I and then went down for her afternoon nap. After that she was really cranky, didn't really want to eat and tired. Then on Thursday she basically slept all day and had only 1-1/2 yogurts to eat. I became concerned and called our doctor, well my mom did, and he said to take her to the ER. Drew came home from work as he works nights now and we took her in to HCHC around 7:30. She had a CT of her brain where it showed a large about 8 cm, size of a baseball, brain tumor in the right back side of her brain. Shaelynn was airlifted to UIHC at around 9:00 then and I got to fly in the front seat with her. The pediatric neurosurgeons are taking care of her case and she has had 2 CT scans and an MRI done so far. Lots of pokes and blood draws and hooked up to monitors. She is tolerating all of this fairly well and as much as can be expected for a 15 month old. She will be having surgery on Monday to get a biopsy of the tumor and see if it is cancerous or noncancerous and try to remove the whole thing right now if it is noncancerous. There is risk with this surgery and so prayers now and especially on Monday would be well appreciated. We are just so thankful that she took that fall and that Drew and I became concerned or we would have never found this mass. She has had it for a long time and the fall had nothing to do with it.
Thanks so much. We will try to keep you updated as things progress.
Keep saying those prayers as God is with our precious baby girl!!!
Love,
Drew, Sam, and Shaelynn Sue


2 February 18, 2007 at 02:13 PM CST
Good Afternoon All,
Shaelynn had a pretty good night better than she has had since being here. She has an IV in her foot and now in her hand instead of her elbow as last night she was leaking out of the elbow one and so they put a new one in her hand today. She is playing with Grandpa Jeff and Uncle O'Brien, and Daddy now and my mom and I are going downstairs to get some coffee and food.
Tomorrow is her surgery and they are asking that we keep her visitors at a minimum in her room after the surgery. You can all be here but may not necessary get to see Shaelynn but you can see Drew and I at different points. They want to keep her at minimal stimulation after such a big surgery.
Thanks. Talk to you soon. Keep praying!!!
The Kelly's


3 February 18, 2007 at 04:38 PM CST
They have finalized that Shaelynn will have surgery tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. The anesthetists will come up and get her at 7:15 a.m. and Drew and I will go with her.
Shaelynn has to have another MRI this evening at some point and go under anesthesia possibly to have it again. If you can pray for that tonight also and for a good nights rest.
Love,
The Kelly's


4 February 19, 2007 at 08:29 AM CST
Shaelynn went in at 8:15 a.m. this morning. Drew gowned up and went in with her until she fell asleep. We will keep you posted!!! Praise to Him!!!


5 February 19, 2007 at 11:07 AM CST
This is Candy. We just wanted everyone to know that they just got started around 11 a.m. There was alot of prep time and so we are looking to around 5 or 6 p.m. before surgery will be done. We'll update you as we hear. Just keep praying. Sam and Drew are doing good, and family is here. Thank you for all your love and prayers.


6 February 19, 2007 at 03:27 PM CST
Dear family and friends, Our news isn't the news we'd hoped for. The surgery was stopped 2+ hours into it with swelling of her brain. They did get a biopsy and it appears to be cancerous. They will put in a central line hopefully tomorrow and begin the 1st of 2 rounds of chemotherapy. She will probably be in the hospital a while after the 1st round. We are hoping that after the 2nd round of chemo that the tumor will shrink enough to do surgery to remove as much as possible of it. Please pray with us and for Shaelynn. They are keeping her sedated the night and Sam and Drew are with her and will continue to be with her at all times. God loves her and we will hold onto His promises. Candy and family


7 February 20, 2007 at 02:44 PM CST
Hello All,
Shaelynn is having a very quiet day today and has just been resting a lot. She has been able to eat oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast, juice and milk. I tried to feed her lunch and she just didn't seem to want to do that but we won't be pushing it. We will be going to a regular Peds room today at some point and will let you know where that is and when. She will then have surgery tomorrow sometime to get a port put in for her chemotherapy which will begin Wednesday night and take 5 days. So hopefully we will be looking at going home on Monday. She will also have an MRI on her spine right after the surgery while still sedated to make sure nothing has spread to the spine.
Please pray that the MRI for the spine would be clear and that the surgery would go well and that she would tolerate the chemo really well. Those are our immediate requests.
Thanks so much for all the support and prayers!!
Sam Kelly