Battling childhood cancer: a mother’s perspective

Battling childhood cancer: a mother’s perspective

(Nicole Wold)


9 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

RIVERTON — Nicole Wold knows just about everything about neuroblastoma. She understands its formation and can talk about the statistics and treatment options for it. She knows how to flush feeding tubes and chest tubes, and manage the day-to-day care of a cancer patient. But it wasn’t until her daughter was diagnosed with cancer eight weeks ago that she learned about these things.

Her daughter, Keanna Wold, has been sick for a long time. She was given her nickname, “Potato,” as an infant while fighting bronchitis and pneumonia when she was “small as a potato bug.” After Keanna’s diagnosis on Christmas Eve, doctors told Wold, Keanna may have been born with neuroblastoma.

A single mother, Wold first noticed something was wrong with her daughter late last year. The toddler was limping, but didn’t complain about pain. The limp went away for a couple of weeks, but came back with terrible pain and a fever just before Christmas. After a series of tests and a misdiagnosis of leukemia, Keanna’s doctors determined she had stage 4 neuroblastoma in her bones, with tumors in her abdomen, chest and brain.

Neuroblastoma is the formation of a tumor by neuroblast nerve tissue and is typically found in young children, according to the National Institutes of Health, occuring in 1 out of 100,000 children. Keanna’s case was typical of the “quiet, aggressive” disease, in that it was not found until it had spread.

The shy but always happy toddler has since undergone numerous aggressive treatments for her illness. She now has feeding and dialysis systems, and has been through three rounds of high-dose chemotherapy that are spaced out by 10 days and require a six-day hospital stay, at Primary Children’s Hospital. She has three more chemo treatments, in addition to two bone marrow transplants and possibly radiation.

Keanna has remained an inquisitive toddler who loves to tell stories, despite her illness and pain. Wold said she asks questions about her treatments and disease, remembering the answers in details.

“She likes to be told what’s going on,” Wold said. “So when the doctors come in or at home when I’m doing something, she wants to know why it’s being done. She wants to know why and how you do it and you need to be very detailed. She remembers, usually the first time you tell her, most stuff.”

Related:

Wold has had to stop working to care for Keanna, who requires full-time care in addition to treatments. Wold’s two other children, 6-year-old twins Jasmine and Nikita, have helped when they can. The two are able to help Wold flush and hook up Keanna’s tubes and fill the gastronomical tube bag with formula. Most importantly, Wold said, they show their sister an incredible amount of love and support.

“They do and get her everything she needs,” Wold said of her daughters. “She says something, and it’s like she snapped her fingers to her sisters. And that’s not a requirement, they really just want to help.”

Though they have been involved, Wold said it is hard being separated from the twins when she in the hospital with Keanna for treatment. The girls often stay with their father or grandmother.

“That’s the hardest part about it, being away from my other two kids so much and making sure that they’re taken care of and providing them with some kind of stability,” Wold said. “I don’t know what next week is going to be like, because it depends on (Keanna’s) health and how she reacts to stuff.”

Wold said that while her daughter’s future is uncertain, she clings to her knowledge of the disease and her schedule, moving through the treatments and doctors appointments as normally as she can.

“I don’t know sometimes how I do it, but I do it. I think you just have to do it. I think the thing helping me the most is knowing; making sure I read everything and learn everything and learn the terminology the doctors will use. Sometimes, they won’t slow down for you, and sometimes you won’t know what they’re talking about unless you learn the terminology.

“As far as getting through it emotionally, just take one step at a time and be positive. Try to keep a schedule and hold yourself to it. Don’t let yourself fall out of it ,because then you just get sad and don’t care. Try to keep a regular schedule to make you feel like you’re having a regular life.”

Keanna’s grandmother has set up a fundraiser to help Wold with the costs associated with treatment. Donations can be made online.*


*ksl.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does ksl.com assure that the monies deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

Photos

Related links

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahFamilyUplifting
Celeste Tholen Rosenlof

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast