Maggie Jo was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in her genital area on 9/12/08 at the age of one. We have been given a treatment plan of chemotherapy for at least 40 weeks. We do not know if during this time we will have to endure radiation or surgery to remove the cancer cells from Maggie Jo's body. This will all depend on how her tumor reacts to the chemotherapy and the location of where the cancer originated.

We found Maggie Jo's tumor one day while changing her diaper and the tumor was actually protruding from her genital area. We rushed her to the emergency room where they had no idea what was wrong and suggested it may be a cervical polyp. We were directed to a gynecologist that was able to send off a biopsy and let us know that the diagnosis was a sarcoma. They immediately contacted Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and got us set up with Dr. Olson. We are so thankful to Dr. Epley and her staff at Columbus OBGYN & Associates for their help in getting our little girl to the right place. Egleston is wonderful and all the doctors and nurses have been more helpful than you could ever imagine.

Before all of this happened, Maggie Jo was a healthy little girl. She never had any major colds or illnesses. That is one reason why this all caught us so off guard. She seemed so healthy! Even to look at her now, beside the whole bald thing, you would never know she had this terrible disease inside her little body. She will defeat this and live to hear us tell the story of how she defeated cancer and how special she is!

Written by April Hutchins, Maggie Jo’s Mother
06/09