David is a spirited 12-year old who enjoys Legos, arts and crafts and soccer. He loves armadillos, the minions, Navy football and dreams of being a member of the bomb squad.

David was diagnosed with undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver (UESL) at the end of February 2015. It came as a bit of a shock to us, because we had no idea. We had figured that when the school nurse called on that Tuesday complaining of chest pain and a fever, that he had pneumonia (again), which would mean an ER visit, some antibiotics and a few days of him feeling crummy.

We were floored when the ER doctor at Lankenau Hospital told us that the ultrasound revealed a 17 cm mass on the right lobe of his liver. He was transferred to CHOP where they were able to do an MRI of his liver, which revealed that it was huge, approximately five pounds of tumorous mass. He was admitted from Tuesday until Saturday night, where they did a biopsy on it and sent him home. He returned a day later, admitted back to CHOP for pain management. There he remained for the better part of a week, while we learned from his oncologist that he was diagnosed with UESL. They set about installing a central port, and beginning an aggressive treatment to shrink the size of the tumor to a surgically manageable size. When he finally went home, it was for a day, only to be readmitted to CHOP with a fever. When his ANC levels came back to a reasonable level, and he was no longer neutropenic, he went home again. This time, however, he was able to stay out of the hospital, except for his weekly oncology clinic visits. We went back the next week, only for the next round to have to start all over again. This time, he was out in a few days, and he went home (and surprisingly, back to school).

Aside from a few hiccups in between treatments that resulted in ER trips, even for just CBC counts, he was able to stay out of the hospital until his MRI to take another look at his mass. With the 2 rounds into him, the surgeon determined that it had shrunk well below the size it was (no longer about the size of a small/medium watermelon, but to about the size of a softball/honeydew), and scheduled surgery. 

The surgery removed the entire right lobe of his liver, and he was holed up on CHOP's med/surgery level for a few days post op. Pathology took a long look at his tumor, and for the most part, it was necrotic; however there was still some live tumor cells, so the doctors wanted to keep on a cycle of medication to make sure that everything was gone.

He made it through Round 4 and round 5, keeping his chin up and a positive outlook, all the while attending more classes at school than missing. Even when he felt exhausted, and could have had the nurse call me to take him home, he toughed it out and made it home on the school bus. He kept up with his classes, his homework and his grades despite all this.

After round 4, David, his older brother Jakob, and my wife, Kim, volunteered at the Alex's “Original” Lemonade Stand at Penn Wynne Elementary School. He put all of his effort into helping, even while dealing with exhaustion. He just completed round 5 on Sunday, and Round 6 (hopefully the final) will be starting 22 July.

All the while, he has kept a positive outlook, his chin up, and a good attitude towards everything; the biggest help to that has not only been the support of his family, but also the many child life specialists, art therapists and of course, the wonderful nurses at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Information provided by the Gibson Family
June 2015

Update: As of December 2015, David is officially in remission!