Aleisha is four years old and a breast cancer survivor. Her mom, Melanie, shares her story with us.

I was just devastated and in shock when the call came “your three year old daughter has breast cancer”

I noticed a lump on Aleisha’s left breast in December 2008 when she was 2 1/2 years old. I took her to her pediatrician who reassured me it was probably just hormonal, toddlers sometimes get “breast buds” and it would go away. I left feeling uneasy but trusted her doctor’s judgment. A couple months later I noticed the lump wasn’t going away so I took her back to her pediatrician who assured me again that it was okay but made the referral anyway to a children’s hospital in Hamilton. I took Aleisha there and they again said it was nothing to be concerned about that they would just keep an eye on it, they were convinced it was a lympathic malformation, they ordered an MRI but said it could take up to a year before they could do it. The MRI never was booked and I was growing very uneasy and kept taking her to Hamilton. Our last appointment one doctor suggested it was a birth mark and would go away. I was asked by the surgeon what I wanted to do. I was told if they did surgery to remove the cyst that it would damage her development, I said if it wasn’t going to hurt her then I would be okay with waiting but again I just was not convinced it was something that could be left.

In April everything worsened, Aleisha wasn’t sleeping or eating and she was increasingly in pain, she was clearly uncomfortable, the cyst was now 2.4cm.

On May 17, 2010 Aleisha happened to have a follow-up appointment at Sick Kids where she has been seen by plastic surgeons  since she was 10 days old for cleft lip and palate (I had asked her pediatrician to refer her to Sick Kids in Toronto for the breast growth but he said things would happen faster in Hamilton). When we went for the appointment at Sick Kids I decided I had enough with Aleisha being in pain and her breast was becoming larger. I took Aleisha to the emergency department at Sick Kids and demanded she be seen, I had been told they had the only vascular malformation clinic in Canada and I was determined she was going to see someone in that clinic. In the ER, we were seen by a breast specialist who right away was concerned, she even said to me that she was going to remove it the next day, I had to sit down, only a week before I was told by the doctors in Hamilton that it could wait until after she hit puberty and developed. The surgeon at Sick Kids decided that she wanted more tests so two days later we were back at Sick Kids for an ultrasound, that is when I was first introduced to the oncology staff. By the next day Aleisha was booked for an MRI and biopsy for the following week. Aleisha had her MRI May 25 followed by the biopsy on May 27, 10 days after our visit to the emergency department, things were happening very fast.

After Aleisha’s biopsy, the growth started growing at a very fast pace, it seemed very angry. Then the call came in Thursday June 3 at 6pm, I was not prepared for what the oncologist had to say. Aleisha’s biopsy came back positive, she had breast cancer. I was devastated. That night I got the order for Morphine because Aleisha was in so much pain, I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. Aleisha stopped eating and started complaining about headaches, her doctors ordered a CT and Bone scan for the following week, June 10. We met with the surgeon who decided right then that the surgery would go ahead on June 11. It took the hospital in Hamilton 15 months to do nothing, Sick Kids in Toronto was three weeks. After the diagnosis I was numb but knew I had to keep moving on for Aleisha and be strong for her.

Her surgery was booked for June 11, it was the scariest day in my life. Her surgery was about 2 hours long and she came through okay, they removed her entire left breast and took out 19 lymph nodes. We spent the next 5 days in the hospital, they took the drains out on the 4 day and we spent a great amount of time in the play room before going home the following day. After an agonizing week of waiting we were followed up by oncology where they told us they removed all the tumor and Aleisha did not need surgery “and the angels rejoiced and danced above Aleisha”
Aleisha has a follow-up appointment next Wed August 4th with oncology and will have follow up MRI’s. She is doing awesome and we had a huge 4th birthday for her on July 17th as well a BBQ to raise money for breast cancer awareness which was a success.

- Melanie

Aleisha and her mom will be running on October 3 at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. Join them!