Sean was born prematurely at 34 weeks on October 8th 2002 along with his triplet sisters Heather and Kathleen. They joined big brother Scott and sister Tiffany at home. At their 11mo. well baby check up it was found that Sean had a large mass. We were sent to the local hospital for an ultrasound, and immediately sent to Boston where on Sept 9th 2003, Sean was diagnosed with Stage 3 intermediate risk Neuroblastoma that was deemed inoperable. He had his biopsy, port placement and began Chemotherapy. On October 10th, 2 days after celebrating his 1st birthday with his family on Cape Cod, he underwent an 11 1/2 hour surgery with Dr. LaQuaglia at MSKCC in New York. It wasan incomplete resection due to tumor invading his spine L1-L4.

Due to his young age and the favorable characteristics of the tumor it was decided to discontinue chemotherapy and take a “wait and see” approach. Sean had a second surgery to repair his Lureter in June 2005. He is now a happy, healthy five-year-old boy! He does not seem to have anyresidual effects from the chemotherapy or surgery. His MRI continues to show something, but at this point it has not grown and may even be scar tissue. He continues on 6-12 month check ups.

Sean will tell you, “ I had cancer, they took it out, and now I’m all better. I like to play on our swing set and ride my bike. I like to ski down the big mountain and go on the chairlift, and I like to play soccer and I’m going to play baseball. I also like our birthday!” He is a loving boy who likes to hold Mommy’s hand and give me hugs he callssqueezes, or to just snuggle. All my kids love to hold Alex’s Lemonade Stands and dress up in our yellow “lemonade clothes.” They love to sing and dance to the Alex's Lemonade Song and each has their own copy of the book. They are also look forward to tasting the lemonade all day long at the stands that we host or visit! Neuroblastoma can be a very aggressive cancer. The treatments are harsh, and too often the outcome is poor. We are honored to be a part of young Alex’s Mission to raise funds and awareness for pediatric cancers and to help all kids suffering from cancer, until a cure can be found.

With Hope, Ellen Hanson
http://www.caringbridge.org/ma/seanhanson