Dear Family and Friends,

Round Two of chemo for Amelia started Wednesday night and she seems to be tolerating it a bit better than the first round. This was expected, as the first round was shortly after surgery when she was weaker to start with. She is receiving the same three drugs as last time, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin and Vincristine.

Amelia thoroughly enjoyed Easter, particularly all of the colorful eggs. It was wonderful to have her and Allison around for a few days.

There have been a number of requests for information on where contributions can be sent. Amelia's bank account is:

Amelia P. Hantske
Account No. 2701175008
Navy Federal Credit Union
PO Box 3100
Merrifield, VA 22119-3100

Keep those prayers coming!

Dear Family and Friends,

A short update for you. It has been a week of ups and downs for Amelia and her family. Amelia was released from the hospital late Monday night. On Tuesday the Johns Hopkins visiting nurse service came over to check on Amelia and give Allison instruction on how to deliver medicine to Amelia via the central line which is surgically implanted in her chest.

On Thursday Amelia had a scheduled oncology visit plus an MRI. After a very long day at the hospital they both arrived home exhausted. Unfortunately, Amelia did not do well the following day so she and Allison are now back at Hopkins where they will likely remain for about a week.

With Amelia so vulnerable to infection right now Allison is keeping visitors away. We're hoping that by next weekend there will be an improvement in her blood count, and thus her resistance.

We'll keep you posted. Thanks for all the expressions of concern. Please keep the family in your prayers.

Dear family and friends,

Most of you have heard by now that 10 month old Amelia Hantske has been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a cancer of early childhood that arises in immature nerve cells. The lab and pathology reports are in, and Amelia has high-risk group, Stage IV metastatic disease. That's about as bad as it gets.

The good news is that there is treatment available, with a cure resulting more often than not. That's another way of saying that her chances of surviving are about 50%. But we all know that Amelia isn't the average kid, and we're confident that she is going to meet this challenge successfully.

Amelia is being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where she has been since 20 March, by a magnificent team of surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and nurses. She has had two rounds of surgery, on her head and abdomen, and has commenced an aggressive multiagent (five in all, no more than three at one time) program of chemotherapy. The present plan is for seven, three to four day courses of chemo, occurring about three weeks apart. Amelia (and her mother) will be able to come home between courses. Along the way, when determined appropriate, there will be additional surgery, radiation treatment, and autologous stem cell transplantation. After the chemo is complete in about six months, there will be additional treatment with oral 13-cis-retinoic acid and frequent checkups for another six months. It will be a busy year for the Hantske family.

After her second day of chemo Amelia seems to tolerating the treatment OK. It's not going to be fun, with nausea and hair loss a certainty. They have medicine for the nausea, but not for the hair loss - but it will grow back.

We'll try to keep you posted. Please keep the family in your prayers.