My son Ryder was diagnosed with stage IV group 4 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma on May 26, 2011.  We are currently undergoing 52 weeks of chemotherapy and will be enduring 6 weeks of radiation during Ryder’s journey. 

Let me tell you how it all began... Shawn and I first noticed a little bump on the bottom of Ryder’s right foot in February of 2011, and to be honest really didn’t think much of it. Ryder is a very (very!) active 3-year-old, and was in daycare; we just thought he bumped it or something. We did call the doctor, and they said it could just be an injury from stepping on something and if it didn’t go away in a couple of weeks to bring him in. So, we finally did, as we noticed it getting bigger and bigger. Thus started the many referrals and during this time it was just growing so rapidly.  

We finally found a pediatric surgeon that was willing to do the surgery to remove the tumor as it pretty much encompassed his whole foot.  The plan was to do a small biopsy and do a quick pathology test to rule out malignant versus benign. If it was benign, the surgeon would remove as much of the tumor as possible without disrupting any functionality of his foot. If it was malignant, he was going to close up and refer us to oncology. Throughout this process, all the doctors and surgeons were telling us that it looked benign and that it would be extremely rare that it would be cancer. This put our minds at ease, and when we left Ryder for surgery, the surgeon said that it would be about 2-3 hours. When we saw him about an hour later in the waiting room, we should have known something was wrong.  That is when he told us that the pathology report showed that it was a malignant tumor and that he had to close up. He told us we should be hearing from oncology in the next couple of days.  

So, here we are, in shock that he has cancer. We were not sure what type and while the surgery took place on a Thursday, we did not see the Oncologist until the following Wednesday. Those were the worst days of our lives, simply not knowing was horrible.  After he had all of his tests, the CT scan, nuclear bone scan, full body scan, bone marrow aspiration, it was revealed that he had very small nodules in his lungs and that he had embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, Stage 4 Group 4. We started chemo that Friday and we now have a very aggressive treatment for the next year.

Please visit our caring bridge website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ryderpelkey to follow Ryder’s cancer journey. 

Written by Kathleen Pelkey, Ryder’s Mom
September 2011