Hi, my name is Autumn
I am a bubbly, energetic, full-of-life and happy kid. I love to spend my time dancing anywhere I can (music or no music), swimming in pools, playing with my Barbies and hanging out with my friends and my big family.
My parents keep telling me how independent, strong, courageous, beautiful and resilient I am. What I love the most, is putting smiles on people's faces, any chance I can!
my diagnosis
In February 2022, after having trouble staying awake during school, and having difficulty walking, my parents took me to a few hospitals because they were worried about me. After the doctors found a mass in my chest, I ended up at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (SickKids). After spending a few days there with my parents, the doctors came in to tell them that I had Stage 4 High-Risk Metastatic Neuroblastoma, a rare type of paediatric cancer that affects my nervous system. The disease had spread to my lymph nodes, bone marrow, hips, vertebrae and my skull.
what this means...
After my diagnosis, I spent weeks and months going through countless rounds of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery, localized and generalized radiation, pokes, bandage changes, daily medication administration, PICC line insertion and removal, CVL (Central Venous Line) insertion and blood transfusions, just to name a few.
Unfortunately, in October 2022, the doctors sat down with my parents and told them that my cancer had become chemo-resistant.
what we'll do
Just like my parents, I will continue to fight every single day not only for myself, but also for all the other friends that I meet at the hospital who have the same paediatric cancer as I do. My parents are going to sell some Team Autumn merchandise, and will eventually have events to raise money to support Dr. Meredith Irwin's (my oncologist) research at SickKids in Toronto, and hopefully FIND A CURE!
No child or family should ever endure what we have gone through, and I want everyone to Fight Until Children Knockout CANCER.