Raymond H


	Raymond H ~ ‘Engines’


	DATE OF BIRTH: May 25th, 2005 ILLNESS: Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma of the Right Thigh Stage 2


	Raymond’s Quilt Stitchers: Australian Christine~Laidley, Diane~Maryborough, Janet~Toowoomba, Joanne~ACT, Joanne~Brisbane, Katrina~Brisbane, Liz~Gordon, Lydia~Capella, Mandy~Tasmania, Sam~Mt.Larcom, Sarah~Victoria, Tamara~Canberra, Tania~Werribee, Tracey~Gold.Coast. International Fee~Scotland, Filomena~Belgium, Georgia~USA, Katherine~UK, Kim~USA, Lola~Canada, Susan~Canada, Tania~Brazil.

		Fabric Donation: Evelyn~Autumn Threads

BIOGRAPHY

Ray was 16 months old & up until then had had a pretty happy, healthy & normal life. I found a lump in his right thigh late on the 12th September & took him to Emergency at our local hospital. The next day Ray was referred to the Sydney Childrens hospital at Randwick. Over the following week Ray had scans, blood tests & surgery to diagnose Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, Stage 2.

Ray will be having 39 weeks of chemotherapy, so far he has completed 23 weeks. He has also had 23 days of radiotherapy, which he needed to have an anaesthetic each day for.

All of his tests so far have shown that the tumour is no longer present. Hopefully he will be off treatment by July 2007.

Unfortunately this tumour has a 25-30% recurrence rate, but we are beyond hopeful that Ray will be cured. He is likely to need further treatment on his leg over the following years as the radiation may cause his right thigh to not grow to its full length.

He is handling treatment very well and is developing normally otherwise.

Written by Raymond’s Mum.