It's not the hand you are dealt, but how you play your cards.
Rhabdomyosarcoma
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a fast-growing, highly malignant tumor which accounts for over half of the soft tissue sarcomas in children.There are approximately 350 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma in the United States every year. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive tumor that usually involves the muscles of the extremities or trunk.
On March 23, 2003 Nick's second cancer was diagnosed: Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma. The tumor was discoverd by his mom because his artificial eye was protruding slightly and a subsequent MRI revealed the mass. The tumor was on his left side, close to the base of his brain and not operable. This portion of the web site tells the story from the perpective of an 8 year old kid.
My name is Nicolas Mendez and I have cancer. This web site is for my family, for my friends, and for me and for all those that want to know about my life and what it is like for an 8 year old that has cancer. It is good for me to know about cancer and my body because the more I know about my cancer and my treatments, the less scary my life is. I hope that if people read about me and my life that their lives might be easier too. My dad is helping me write and when he asked me why I thought this web site was important I told him I thought, it would be cool to be famous!
I have a really big family that loves me a lot. My family is a big part of my life and this web site is for them. I hope that they can look at my web site whenever they want and know how I am doing. I have family all over the world including Argentina and this way we can stay in touch.
I have a lot of friends that care a lot about me. I want my friends to know how I am doing and to learn about cancer. I get a lot of nice cards and cool stuff from my friends and my web site is a good way for me to say thank you.
There are a whole bunch of people that take care of me and my web site is a good way to thank them and to tell you about their jobs and how much they help people that have cancer.
I get through all of this by thinking about what Jesus would do. I have confidence, courage and hope.
So what is cancer? Cancer is when cells in your body don't grow normally. Cancer cells grow fast, are not contained by any parts of your body, share food with other cells in your body and they don't listen to your body when it asks them to stop growing.
Tumors are groups of cells that can grow very fast and grow out of control. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors usually grow slowly and do not spread. Malignant tumors grow very fast, can invade and destroy nearby normal tissues, and can spread throughout the body. The term "cancer" is used when a tumor is malignant.
