Gregory was born in July of 2003. He was always a happy and healthy little boy. Around the time he was 6 or 7 months old, Gregory started acting differently and crying a lot. We started taking him to the pediatrician, trying to figure out what was wrong. The doctor tried changing his formula and some other things, but nothing seemed to be working.

The most horrible day came on April 9, 2004 when I took Gregory to the pediatrician again because he was refusing to eat or drink. I was really worried. The doctor noticed that Gregory was having trouble urinating and thought that maybe he had some type of blockage. He sent us to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to get checked out. I took Gregory there and they ran some tests and did an ultrasound. A little while later the doctors came in and I could tell that something wasn't right. They began to explain to us that they found a large tumor that was crushing Gregory's urethra and causing him to be in severe renal failure. His kidneys were starting to shut down. They also said the tumor was cancerous. Right then I felt like I was hit by a truck. We were told if we hadn't brought Gregory to the hospital when we did, that he wouldn't have lived much longer.

Gregory spent 2 weeks in the hospital getting antibiotics, fluids and blood transfusions. He also had a catheter inserted for the next 4 months. After about a week Gregory began his first chemotherapy treatment. Gregory went through 10 months treatment. Every week we would go to Children's for chemotherapy and every three weeks Gregory would spend the night for another treatment. When Gregory was 13 months of age the doctors told us that the best chance of survival for Gregory would be to remove his whole prostate and a piece of his bladder. Gregory underwent a 6 1/2 hour surgery and spent 4 days in intensive care. In November of 2004 Gregory developed a severe blood infection and spent another 5 days in the hospital, receiving another 2 blood transfusions. Luckily Gregory had a central line inserted in his chest so they did not have to stick him each time with needles.

In February of 2005 Gregory finished his Chemotherapy and had his central line removed. He began his routine check-ups and scans, with everything coming back clear each time. He has been in remission for the last 5 years and as of March 2009 Gregory is finally considered cancer free. He is moving on to the survivorship clinic at Children's Hospital. Gregory is 5-years-old and is very strong. I am so proud to be his mommy and so thankful to all the doctors and nurses that took great care of him.
 
Written by Tammy Sandberg, Gregory’s Mom
03/09