Megan stuns doctors

THE parents of little Megan Malone, who underwent life-saving treatment for a rare brain tumour in New York, have been told there is no longer any trace of cancer in her brain while tumours on her spine also appear to have completely cleared.

The three-and-a-half year old toddler from Kilnamartyra, Co Cork, was diagnosed last October with a rare cancerous brain tumour called PNET medullablastoma, while it was also discovered that the cancer had spread to her spine and the rest of the brain. The condition is so rare that only two children in Ireland are diagnosed with such tumours a year.

Megan was given a less than 20% chance of survival in Ireland, where no treatment for her condition is available. However, her parents were told if they could get her to New York immediately, doctors there believed she would have at least a 50:50 chance. Megan and her family, including three young siblings, moved to New York last December, where she was accepted for a specialist programme of treatment called Head Start at the city’s Presbyterian Hospital.

Last Friday, four months after Megan commenced treatment, her parents, John and Sheila, were given the results of her latest MRI scan which have amazed her doctors.

“We could not have asked for better news,” Megan’s dad, John Malone, confirmed yesterday. “The MRI scans were reviewed by the medical team and the results are amazing. Megan’s brain now has no evidence of cancer.

“Dr Garvan has told us that there is complete response in the brain and that the main tumour is gone. We are in shock and just can’t believe it. Dr Garvan told us that this is a unique situation. Most brain tumours of this nature and magnitude are surgically removed first before chemo and many still require radiotherapy to completely remove,” a delighted Mr Malone said.

The chemotherapy alone has removed Megan’s tumour.

There was further good news for the Malones this week with indications that tumours on Megan’s spine have also cleared.

Mr Malone said: “Dr Ghatan and Dr Garvan examined Megan’s spinal scans in great detail. They were both amazed at what they saw. In a nutshell, they cannot be 100% sure right now but there are very strong indications that there is little or no tumour remaining in Megan’s spine.

“This result has completely blown our minds. It is more than we could have ever hoped for at this stage of the treatment.

“We are waking up in the night still in disbelief of the result from the doctors. We’re still pinching ourselves at how amazing the results are, we are so delighted and Megan is in such good form,” Mr Malone said.

Megan’s medical team is now recommending that they skip the fifth Head Start cycle and instead start straight into the high dose final chemo cycle followed by the reintroduction of her stem cells, which were harvested early in her treatment.

Megan’s next MRI scan is in eight weeks’ time but the Malones are confident they can return to Ireland in time for her to start playschool in September. It had been feared that Megan would have to stay in the US for up to three years.