Sophia's fight against cancer!

Hello Everyone,
 
As I type this up, I’m still in disbelief that I need to ask for help for my 18-year-old niece Sophia…

My sister Carma and her family were faced with the devastating loss of her husband and Sophia’s father just 2 years ago. Steve had an awful, rare cancer called Sezary Syndrome. Faced with the unknown, UofM was unable to cure Steve. Carma is now a widow, left to care for 4 children without her best friend at her side. We are all still recovering from this great loss and now faced with another DIRE situation.

Around Thanksgiving time Sophia started having some abdominal discomforts. My sister’s initial thoughts were that she was missing her Dad as the Holidays were approaching. My sister made an appointment and took her to the pediatrician and had blood work performed. After trying dietary restrictions which did not improve her pain, she went back to her Pediatrician. At this time the Pediatrician performed an ultrasound and found some abnormalities on her liver. From there she had an MRI and was instructed to go the hospital for further testing. This all came as a very big shock, as Sophia has always been a healthy child without any issues besides the common cold to speak of.

The hospital performed a biopsy and the results came back as fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma. This is an extremely rare cancer. Unfortunately, you typically do not know you have this cancer usually until it has reached the later stages. Sophia is at Stage 4A.  This has also gone into some of her lymph nodes in the abdominal area surrounding her pancreas.

After the initial shock of this diagnosis, we reached out to all contacts looking for the best route of treatment for my beautiful niece. There are no specialists for fibrolamellar in the state of Michigan.

With the help of great family friends, we found a specialist for fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma at John Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. After consultations at RO Beaumont, UofM and John Hopkins a treatment plan has been identified. Sophia will start an aggressive chemotherapy at RO Beaumont with the standard 3 chemo's and 2 additional trial chemo's. After 8 weeks of chemo, they will review again with the specialist at John Hopkins. Depending on the results of the chemo treatments will determine the next steps for treatment. The good news is we have a Dr. on Sophia’s team from John Hopkins who specializes in this rare cancer. The difficult part will be travel, medical and lodging expenses when they start the treatment at John Hopkins.  

At this time Carma is 100% focused on caring for Sophia and her other children. The severity of this situation is hard to express in words. The best treatment for Sophia is far away from home and family but we will all pitch in to get her all the help she needs. At this time, I am asking if you can offer any assistance for costs related to medical expenses, travel, and lodging while Sophia is receiving treatment. My sister and her family would appreciate any assistance you could provide. Any amount will help. If you cannot afford to offer any financial assistance, I ask that you please PRAY for Sophia Dutkiewicz. She is a Senior at Roseville High school and has her whole life in front of her. She is a smart kid, who is kind and loves children and animals and is very artistic. She is an excellent cook and loves to care for others and feed them!  She has a lot to offer this world, please consider assisting in Any Way Possible.

Thank you,

Angela Parmentier and Joanne Shunia (Sophia’s Godmother)