Superman makes a house call

ubmitted photo The Journal
Superman flew in to wish Liam a ‘Happy Birthday’ holding him high.

Superman visited Machesney Park on Sunday, Aug.18 to say “Happy birthday” to his biggest fan, 5-year-old Liam Wick, who has been fighting a brain tumor all his life.
Liam’s story begins the fall of 2014. He was a happy-go-lucky baby, a light to many, until he fell ill and began to lose weight rapidly. The tests that were done all came back normal and eventually Liam was transferred to a children’s hospital in Chicago. Liam was diagnosed with a brain tumor just after his first birthday.
It was touch and go over the next month. He had an emergency surgery to relieve the pressure mounting in his brain. The small biopsy that was done revealed a Low Grade Glioma Astrocytoma and we knew little else. A year’s worth of chemotherapy and new tests showed that the tumor shrunk. The MRI three months after that showed the relentlessness of the tumor- it grew. Liam was given high-dose Carboplatin for three months. The tumor grew again. It was decided that it would be best to surgically de-bulk the tumor even though it couldn’t be completely removed due to it’s location.
In March 2017, the surgeon was able to remove over 50 percent of the tumor and this also brought to light a more definitive diagnosis of Low Grade Glioma Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma Grade 2 with NF1 variant. The surgery was followed by six doses of Vinblastine. Another MRI was done at two months post-surgery due to Liam’s symptoms. The MRI revealed that the tumor grew yet again. This supposedly slow-growing tumor grew back almost to the size it was prior to surgery two months before.
With each tumor progression comes an even nastier chemical therapy than before. These chemical therapies come complete with nasty side effects including but not limited to: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, risk of bleeding, internal organ damage and the threat of developing an additional cancer. The doctors have told us from the beginning that Liam’s tumor will never go away. Their only hope is to slow or stop the tumor’s growth. They do not have the expectation of reducing it in size. Radiation is one of the next steps in traditional cancer treatment and with this, devastating side effects.
The quest for alternative treatments has revealed hope in the form of Dr. Burzynski. He specializes in the treatment of brain tumors. He has completely cured them in multiple, documented cases along with other advanced cancers by the use of RSO oil. Right now, traditional medicine has chemo ravaging Liam’s little body killing his good cells while the tumor, which they don’t expect to go away, remains unaffected.
Liam, like most other children, wants to play outside and draw pictures with chalk on the sidewalk. He wants to run through the sprinkler on a hot summer’s day and play at the park. He wants to enjoy his meals without nausea. He wants to have a warm bath with toys and a story when he’s curled up in bed for the night.
What he doesn’t want is to wake up in the middle of the night feeling sick or to have to hold his head and sob when it throbs with pain. And he doesn’t want to stop playing to have the painful knots rubbed out of his legs and feet.
Liam was able to have his Disney Make -A-Wish trip granted over the summer. I asked Liam what his favorite part of the day was as he had so many wonderful experiences. He said, “spending time with you guys!” He is so genuine and loving, he never ceases to amaze me. After the trip, he continued the Avastin and Irinotecan chemo regimen every other week in Chicago.
Good friends of ours hosted a volleyball benefit for Liam in September. It was a success and gave us a good start for the RSO oil we planned to add to his treatment regimen. Things looked to be falling into place finally. Liam was approved for his Medical Marijuana Card and now we had some funds to make it happen. We started Liam on a RSO oil from the dispensary. He tolerated it well and we had a sense of relief that we were finally doing something for him.
By December, Liam was in great pain. The Tylenol we gave him didn’t touch it. We called the on-call oncologist who said to take him to a local ER. They drew labs and did a quick scan to make sure there wasn’t a shunt malfunction. This looked okay so we prepared to be transferred via ambulance to Lurie’s. Many tests were done including a brain MRI. This revealed a stable tumor with less enhancement. Liam was in-patient for three days and they were not able to pinpoint the exact cause of his head pain as the tumor appeared stable. They said perhaps he just had a really bad headache and virus as he had abdominal pain at that time too. We figured that was reasonable to consider.
Liam was given chemo on Dec. 3 prior to his discharge. Shortly after that, the doctors decided to give him a chemo break as he had been on that regimen for a year. We were excited knowing we still had him on the oil. So happy to think that that dose could really be his last dose of poison.
By Feb. 9. Liam was sleeping a lot and then would wake up screaming inconsolably and going right back to sleep. His father called the on-call oncologist and they said to bring him to the hospital. We figured this could be a shunt issue as perhaps the tumor was shrinking so quickly that it caused a malfunction. His parents took Liam to Lurie’s. By the time they arrived, he was slurring his speech, one side of his face was droopy and he had had some incontinence issues. They ran some tests and started him on high dose steroids.
They monitored him closely and realized when they were unable to get a temperature reading, that he was not able to maintain his own body temperature. Rectally his temperature was 93.8 degrees. His heart rate kept fluctuating as well and would go down as low as 48 beats per minute. He wasn’t eating or drinking. He was hospitalized from Feb. 9 to 14, during which time they did another brain MRI. This revealed that the tumor had grown quite a bit. In December, the tumor dimensions were 4.1 x 4.9 x 6.3 and the February MRI now at 5.7 x 5.8 x 6.6.
Tumor board met and the decision was made to restart the Avastin and Irinotecan but only for one to three months at most as he’s already been on it for so long. It can begin to cause terrible side effects such as osteonecrosis (bone death) amongst other nasty things. He will work with a speech therapist and she will teach him to swallow pills and this will allow him to have several oral chemotherapy options. Tumor samples from the 2017 craniotomy were sent for genetic testing and will take about a month to get results. This will help to identify the most viable traditional treatment options for him. So we wait.
Things have progressed and have never been as bad as they are now as the tumor is pressing on his brainstem. Fortunately, the steroids have alleviated some of this pressure.
Once we start the new treatment with RSO, it can take anywhere from three to six months for tumor death. At that time, he will go on a much smaller maintenance dose that will be affordable to us. We will keep tabs on how effective this is as he will continue to have brain MRI’s anywhere from every six weeks to every three months.
A Go Fund Me page has been set up at www.gofundme.com/LiamsPleaHelpMe for those who are interested in helping Liam and his family.