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如果你是父母，想象一下你的孩子——明亮的眼睛，充满活力和爱. Their whole life in front of them. Now they say they are in pain. You can’t do anything to ease it. You take them to the doctor and after many tests, 你被领进一个房间，被告知你不想听的消息. Your child has cancer.
“I fell apart,” Sarah Bresee says. “这是你希望永远不会发生在任何人身上的事情，而现在，你面临着最坏的情况. 在她确诊后的第一个月，我动不动就哭. There were so many questions. Is she going to be OK? Is she ever going to be 100% again?”
莎拉11岁的女儿艾玛在2021年3月被诊断出患有糖尿病 Ewing sarcoma这是一种罕见的癌症，发生在骨骼或骨骼周围的软组织. Emma started having pain the month before. 起初，似乎是她从两岁起就患有的幼年关节炎引起的.
艾玛说：“当我坐着的时候，我的臀部开始疼。. “我的父母问我是否摔倒了，但我不记得摔倒了. 在接下来的三天里，情况变得更糟了——到了我无法坐下的地步. I had to lay on my stomach. My doctor at Primary Children’s Hospital 做了超声波检查，然后做了核磁共振，然后做了活检.”
那么，当艾玛听到“c-a-n-c-e-r”这个词时，她的反应是什么呢?
“I was freaked out,” Emma says. “我知道有人会掉头发，不得不在医院住一段时间. 然后他们说尤因肉瘤，我就想，‘那是什么?“一旦医生开始说一些我听不懂的话，我就害怕了. 我知道事情很严重，因为我爸爸哭了，他从来没有哭过.”
我可能会告诉其他孩子，你的家人爱你. There are so many amazing people here to help. You’re going to get through this.
艾玛立即在山间小学儿童医院开始化疗, 直到2021年11月，她每隔一周就会继续这样做. 每次化疗结束后，莎拉都会在医院待上几天.
“We decided on radiation therapy 这就是大发娱乐来到亨茨曼癌症研究所的原因，”莎拉解释道. 儿科患者在初级儿童医院接受大部分癌症治疗, but they get radiation at Huntsman Cancer Institute. “从6月到8月，艾玛每天都对她的骶骨进行放射治疗, while continuing her chemotherapy, 所以大发娱乐必须协调两家医院之间的治疗和交通.”
在双重治疗期间，艾玛回忆起病情有多严重. “I was super sick every day for a month.” Since the radiation was targeting her sacral area, which is where bloods cells are made, they were not regenerating as quickly as normal. “医生警告过大发娱乐，这对她来说会很艰难, 但看到她呕吐和病得那么厉害，我还是很难受,” says Sarah. 然而，在那个咒语之后，艾玛的身体开始从辐射中恢复过来. “我想说的是，大约在9月或10月，我开始感觉自己恢复正常了,” adds Emma.
艾玛对自己的处境保持积极的态度，她知道这是一个过程. Even from the original diagnosis, she comforted her parents, 问他们过得怎么样，试着让他们振作起来.
艾玛说：“大发娱乐住在30分钟车程的地方，所以我知道我不会孤单。. “我的家人可以陪我在医院里玩，让我不去想那些事情. 有一天，我的弟弟奥斯汀（Austin）和妹妹艾娃（Ava）来我家玩了几款任天堂游戏. 我知道这对我最小的妹妹黑兹尔来说很艰难，因为她不被允许来看望我.”
最终，由于治疗，艾玛开始脱发. 她不想延长这种情况，于是决定剃光头.
“That was another really tough point,” Sarah says. “这太痛苦了，我一直站在外面哭. But even then, Emma comforted me. 她总是这样做——即使在她最艰难的日子里，当她感到痛苦的时候.”
Emma credits the proton therapy 感谢亨斯迈癌症研究所的护理团队大发娱乐她度过了最艰难的时刻. The Bresees also acknowledged the work of Abbie Lofgren, a child life specialist at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
“无论大发娱乐什么时候去，艾比总是让大发娱乐感到很受欢迎，”萨拉说. “她总是给大发娱乐很大的安慰，让大发娱乐感觉好些.”
“Abbie was great and would bring me gifts,” Emma adds. “The entire radiation team and nurses felt like family. They even mailed me a birthday present in October. It was like celebrity treatment. 我每次进去都想要菲力多滋和水，他们确保我得到了. 拍摄完成后我很伤心，因为很难不去看大家.”
Emma also says music therapy and meditation played a big role in taking her mind off things, in between reading Fablehaven, Dragonwatch, and Harry Potter books.
“有一次我开始抓狂的时候，一位女士进来做了冥想. I fell asleep for two hours. 这是我第一次感觉到我有了休息，这真的很有大发娱乐. Also, the music therapist would come play guitar. At first, I didn’t want to do anything. 然后我开始要求听一些迪斯尼的歌曲——任何能让我忘记事情的东西. 她开始教我如何弹吉他，然后大发娱乐转向弹钢琴. 现在，我正在上钢琴课，甚至还在电视慈善节目上表演.”
Emma is cancer-free as of November 2021. 她继续每三个月做一次检查，甚至由于化疗，她的关节炎也减轻了. 艾玛说：“好的事情可能来自糟糕的情况。.
萨拉说：“如果你的孩子得了癌症，希望是可以治疗的。. “我会告诉其他家长，情况会好转的，但这并不容易. 试着日复一日，不要想太多. Spend time with your child. Enjoy the good days. A lot of families aren’t as lucky as ours. I can’t imagine that hurt.”
And Emma’s advice to pediatric cancer patients? “我可能会告诉其他孩子，你的家人爱你. There are so many amazing people here to help. You’re going to get through this.”