Aurora’s Birthday Wish

Aurora Waddell, Mebane, NC

Most children getting ready to celebrate their 7th year birthday would be wishing for presents wrapped up in pretty paper and silk bows. Not Aurora Waddell of Mebane. Two weeks before the much anticipated pool party day, Aurora announced to her parents that she wanted all her guests to bring gifts of money, not for her, but for the UNC cancer hospital. A rather unusual request of someone so young, you might say. But then again, Aurora is not your typical little girl. A cancer battle fought twice, has instilled a wisdom and sensitivity well beyond her years.

In the fall of 2004, Aurora was diagnosed with stage 4 Wilms tumor. After six months of radiation and chemo therapy it seemed the cancer was gone. However, after one year in remission, the cancer reappeared in the spring of 2006 in her abdomen and left lung. She was treated with Stratum C and given high dose chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Anna Waddell's blog gives a glimpse of a mother's emotions as the family is faced with a crisis most of us cannot fathom. "The first few days were full of grief just because we weren't sure of the scope of the cancer. Cancer is a loaded word. "This isn't our life", kept popping into my head. If I was playing with her and busy I was fine, but if I stepped back and looked at my beautiful girl, the tears would just start rolling and I would try and hide them from her. Chances were good it was Wilm's but the definite answers were a long way off at the time. Yes, Wilm's has a fantastic survival rate but how did we go from the day to day all the way to having to discuss survival rates? How could Aurora's survival ever be in question? She's going to outlive me, right?"

"We've come so far since that morning,” reflects Anna. “So many questions have been answered, fears abated.. You would never know from looking at Aurora that anything is amiss within her body or the siege that is underway, fighting cancerous cells. While the scars will fade with time, they will serve as a reminder for all of us that our crystalline lives are so very fragile and precarious. I'm thankful that Aurora has such a "friendly" cancer. A cancer that now, thanks to decades of study, comes with directions on how to cure it. For this I am thankful. I'm thankful for my incredible husband Joe, the superb care at UNC and the always effervescent Aurora. "Dr. Julie Blatt and the entire pediatric team were so competent and caring. There was never a doubt that our daughter was in the best hands."

As Aurora blew out the candles on her birthday cake in one fell swoop, Anna and Joe reflected back on their incredible journey and took a moment to count their blessings once again. Happy birthday, Aurora!