Ellie Rose, our pure love and joy, has passed

Sweet Ellie Rose is just 5 weeks old and undergoing chemo treatment for brain and liver cancer. Your help will enable Christine & Wesam to devote their time to Ellie and provide loving care to her around the clock at Children's Hospital of Orange County. Thank you in advance for your help and your prayers. Despite this heart-breaking news, Christine & Wesam have marched on with a beautiful love for their daughter, delighting in every moment with her and incredible faith in God to help them all heal. Help surround this new little family with all our love and support during an incredibly challenging time.

 

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On February 3rd, 2022 Baby Ellie Rose was born to Christine and Wesam Najjar. They were so excited to welcome their first child into the world. Christine was so excited to be a mother and loved caring for her beautiful daughter. God had truly blessed them!

 

A little over three weeks after she was born, they noticed swelling around her head. They took Baby Ellie to the pediatrician. The pediatrician ordered an ultrasound. After reviewing the results, they immediately rushed her to the emergency room, something was very wrong.

After several hours and multiple MRIs, they saw she was experiencing hydrocephalus (accumulation of fluid in the brain). This fluid typically drains or gets absorbed naturally, but a mass blocked the normal fluid drainage process. So the doctors immediately scheduled surgery to relieve the pressure. Their goal was to drain the fluids and get a biopsy of the rapidly growing tumor in her brain.

 

The first surgery was a success! The doctors were able to make a hole in the tumor to allow the fluids to drain and get a piece of the tumor to biopsy. The doctors said it would take a couple of days to get the biopsy results. It was a waiting game.

 

The next day, still waiting for the results, the physician noticed her belly was hard so they ordered an ultrasound. They saw something on the ultrasound and they wanted to get a better look, so they ordered another MRI. The results were gut-wrenching. There was another tumor, this time on her liver, and it was the size of her entire abdominal area. After reviewing the results of the latest MRI, the doctor's ordered another procedure to get a biopsy of the second tumor. The waiting game continued.

 

After three days, the biopsy results confirmed little Ellie Rose had two malignant tumors. Because of the tumor size and locations, they cannot do surgery. Radiation is not an option because Ellie is too young. The only course of action is chemotherapy.

 

Ellie began her first chemotherapy session on Thursday, March 10, only 5 weeks after she was born. At this point, Ellie resides full-time at the hospital for her treatments. Your support over these uncertain times will help Christine and Wesam as Christine will stop working to be by her daughter's side and Wesam will only be working limited hours. Anything you can give will help. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and ask that you pray for Ellie Rose, the entire family and the team of physicians working to help Ellie.