#rallyruby

I have some friends that I met in high school, Ali and Mark. Although we have never been close, we have been close acquaintances if that makes any sense. The kind of friends you keep up on through social media and get really excited when you run into them.
Ali and Mark have three daughters, Siri, Jane and Ruby. All cute little blondies - with two of the best parents ever, seriously. Their youngest, Ruby, was born with a mass growing on her neck. This mass is/was not really classified as melanoma at the time but tested positive for some signs of it. They were instructed to not remove it and watch it (it wasn't presenting as cancer, just a tumor). For 2+ years it stayed the same, and in January of 2015 they had it removed because it began to grow very fast. Once removed they sent it for testing and it again presented as melanoma but not really melanoma. Once it came back as not 100% melanoma they were instructed to watch it and come back in a year for routine scans. The scans were pushed back to March due to illness and family things, and on her MRI this month there was a circle spot in her little lungs. They did a CT scan to get a better picture of it and it came back with numerous nodules in her lungs. This led to a lung biopsy the following week. Cute little Ruby had her lung biopsy done surgically and stayed over in the hospital to heal with a tube in her lung. Preliminary results are showing that it is metastatic melanoma, and will be stage 4. She is scheduled for a PET scan early next week and is planning to head to San Francisco to a child hospital there that has the means (and doctors/specialists) able to treat her and her rare situation.

This all is ripping at my heart strings so much. It makes me hate cancer so much more than I thought possible. It is one thing for me to be going through this battle because I can understand why I am constantly being poked or why I have drugs/poison infused into me and why I am sick and can wrap my head around the "what ifs" and prognosis. This is a 4 year old girl, full of life and spunk. She doesn't deserve to be dealt this battle and the odds stacked so so high against her. Her parents don't deserve this challenge and pain that lies ahead. I am not saying I deserve it by all means, but it is just easier for a 33 year old to deal with than a sweet, innocent child.

Please keep Ruby and her amazing family in your thoughts and prayers (if you do that) and feel free to read their updates on http://thacksmack.blogspot.com/

If you have any spare $$ too, this is their fundraising page. They will be temporarily living in San Francisco (well at least one of them) during the treatments, it could be a long and very expensive road. https://www.gofundme.com/RallyRuby