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6-Year-Old Suffers With the Most Rarest Form of Spinal Cancer in the World

by Reshma Anand on Dec 11 2015 5:54 PM

George McIntosh has a series of inoperable tumors in the central nervous system of his spine and brain.

6-Year-Old Suffers With the Most Rarest Form of Spinal Cancer in the World
A brave six-year-old boy has been diagnosed with a rare form of a cancer in his central nervous system.
George McIntosh suffers with a number of inoperable tumors characterized as olligodendrial leptomeningeal tumors. So far, only nine adults in the world have been diagnosed with this cancer and he becomes the world’s first child to be diagnosed with the same.

He will soon become the subject of study for an international medical journal. But in spite of his condition, the little boy along with his 8-year-old brother has been fund-raising for The Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

At the age of five, George suffered with a squint on his eye during his mother’s 40th birthday in October 2014. He was rushed to a hospital and was operated to reduce the swelling on his brain.

Julie, his mother said, “Nothing prepares you for this and it has changed our lives. It has been really hard and will continue to be hard. But we appreciate every day. We have our kids and we enjoy all the little things with them.”

Doctors first thought that the boy was suffering with a form of meningitis, but later in June a brain scan revealed the tumors in his central nervous system.

Julie added, “He had a biopsy on his spine and they discovered that it was this extremely rare tumor. Thankfully, it is low grade and is not malignant. Because George is the only child in the world known to have this, a lot of his treatment is experimental and we just take it day by day. He was a puzzle for nine months, now he’s unique.”

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George is currently undergoing chemotherapy and has also gone through a number of major surgeries and has plates and shunts fitted in his head.

Source-Medindia


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