Mila was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma at 7 years old. She is in remission.
What’s one thing you wish you had known in those first 48 hours?
“I wish I knew how to help a previously healthy child in this new terrifying situation be able to cope better with the many doctors, nurses, procedures, and medications she would be having and experiencing very quickly in those first 48 hours.”
What helped you the most in those first 48 hours?
“The nurses that advocated for my daughter when she was in extreme pain from her tumor at the time it was found.”
What’s is one moment in those first 48 hours that you’ll never forget?
“Up until this point in my daughter’s life, she only ever had so much as a cold and now she was in extreme pain and had to be poked and prodded by people she didn’t know in a place that was terrifying for her. I will never forget having to place her first IV. It took three people and myself to hold her down as she screamed and was shaking violently from fear. No matter what I did or said to try to prepare her before hand, she was just in complete terror. It was absolutely necessary to get her fluids and medications and in that moment I knew this was going to be something she had to do more frequently and it just broke my heart.”
If you could go back, what’s one thing you’d tell yourself?
“Your daughter WILL survive this but it will completely change so many things about her life, your life, and your family’s life but not all in a negative way. You may have thought there was absolutely no way you could handle the sadness, the pain, the helplessness of watching her go through this but you will stand by her side the entire way and she will show you just how strong and brave she is. She will absolutely thrive through and after this and you will need time, but you will be changed for the good.”
This First 48 story was submitted by Vanessa.