Treatment Schedule Update / Next Steps

Caroline completed Cycle 15 (of 17) for treatment of her relapsed Neuroblastoma. She came home Saturday and has been feeling well enough to participate in school and family activities this week. Assuming she meets her bloodwork requirements, her next scheduled admission will be May 22nd. We are hopeful she can stay on track and finish out these last 2 cycles on time (by June 17th).

In other news, we had a call this week with our Vanderbilt Oncology team and the Oncology team from Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, NC, to discuss post-treatment “next steps.” Assuming all goes well with Cycles 16 and 17, her bone marrow is clear, and her scans remain clear after treatment, we will be enrolling Caroline in a high-dose DFMO clinical trial at Levine Children’s Hospital. This drug (DFMO) is one of the only available maintenance treatments for Neuroblastoma in the world. We are grateful that Caroline will be able to take something to hopefully/potentially prevent another relapse. We will keep you posted as we get closer, but we are very appreciative of Dr. Smith’s and Dr. Sholler’s teams working together - not only help minimize travel, but most importantly, give Caroline access to the best possible chance of surviving this awful disease. More to come…

Thank you for all the prayers and continued support (especially the Ubereats cards for the hospital)!
The Lantz Family
#carolinestrong

#ftgf

Caroline in Hyde Park, FL a few weeks ago...

Life Update / Scan Results: 30 Months

Over the past few weeks, Caroline has recieved numerous post-treatement tests/scans/appointments, which concluded yesterday.  As always, we prayed hard for No Evidence of Disease (NED)...and we are beyond thrilled to be able to share that Caroline continues to be cancer-free since April 2019, 2.5 years after completing her standard treatment protocol for Stage IV, High-Risk Neuroblastoma and six months after completing her DFMO Clinical Trial!

Test Results: 
VMA/HVA urine test - NED
CT Scan - NED
X-Ray - No abnormalities
Labs/Blood Markers - All in good range, but she needs an iron supplement
MRI for Spinal Compression Fractures - No change
MIBG Scan - NED

We want to thank her amazing team of caretakers at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, the Beat Childhood Cancer Foundation for her DFMO clinical trial, and the army of prayer warriors around the world who have supported us for (almost) 4 years.

Caroline is currently thriving in 2nd grade, playing soccer, hanging out with friends, and excels in her main sibiling duty of annoying her brother.  We are so grateful she has been able to enjoy being a “normal” kid in 2021.

September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Caroline was able to support and create awareness through a variety of events:

~Formulated a "carolinestrong" candle scent in collaboration with In Love There’s Light as a Fundraiser for Beat Childhood Cancer 

~Ambassador for the Children's Miracle Network during the "Ride of a Life Time" at Lifetime Fitness (shoutout to Ms. Hilary and her spin class!)
~Actor in a Love Your Melon and BeatCC awareness campaign video (click here to watch if you have Facebook)

Pediatric cancer is severly underfunded, recieving only 4% of all government funding for cancer-related research, so we are always honored to be asked and happy to participate in doing our part to shine a spotlight on this dreadful disease in hopes of advancing research.

All the best,
The Lantz Family