When Griffin was 2 ½ years old, he had a low grade fever that persisted for a couple of weeks. During that time he also complained about leg/knee pain. I was treating him with ibuprofen, but when he started to limp, I took him to the doctor. We thought it was Lyme's disease, but blood tests and an x-ray of his leg were inconclusive. One day when I only had Tylenol to give him, he refused to walk on his leg.  His doctor sent us to CHOP for further testing.

After a week at CHOP, a bone marrow test confirmed that Griffin had stage IV Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. The cancer was found in his adrenal gland and had spread to his bone marrow.  His prognosis was not good, and he immediately received his first treatment of chemo. For the next 9 months, Griffin went through 4 more cycles of chemo, surgery to remove his tumor, 6 days of total body radiation, and two month-long stays in the hospital for bone marrow transplants. He had a medcomp line put into his chest/artery (in order to receive the medications) and had to go through very painful dressing changes every week for 9 months.  He also endured numerous visits to the hospital to give and receive blood. Throughout it all, Griffin was a champ! He rarely cried about the medicine and all the needle pricks. Doctors, nurses and staff alike admired his courage. He was a fighter; just after 2 cycles of chemo, he was in remission. Griffin reached his 5 year milestone of being cancer free in November of 2010 and is now considered cured!   

Griffin has developed 3 side effects of his treatment - cataracts in both eyes, hypothyroidism and human growth deficiency. Griffin had surgery in the fall of '09 to remove the cataracts and takes daily medication to control his thyroid and to offset his growth deficiency, Griffin takes daily HGH injections that will last through puberty.

In the beginning of May 2013, Griffin complained about groin pain. We chalked it up to a pulled groin from a baseball game. But after a week of consistent pain and limping, I took him to the doctors. The pediatrician sent us for an x-ray which showed that the head of the thigh bone was slipping off the neck of the thigh bone, known as a SCFE (pronounced "skiffy"). Griffin was immediately sent to CHOP's ER, admitted and had surgery the next morning. He had a pin put in both hip joints. He had to be toe-touch weight bearing for 6 weeks and then no running/contact sports for the next 6 months.  Almost a year post surgery, he is doing great and has fully recovered.

Despite these setbacks, Griffin is a happy and healthy 11 year old who loves school, baseball, animals, dinosaurs and playing with his sister, Riley.

Written by Linda Curcio, Griffin’s Mom
Updated: April 2014