2021 Little Warrior: Eden Faber
“Eden was brought into a walk in clinic by her mother for what was thought or hoped to be constipation . She was found through ultrasound to have a mass which was originally thought to be neuroblastoma. We were called by an oncologist and told our 10 month old baby had cancer and we would need to drive to children’s hospital where she would have more testing and a biopsy in 3-5 days. When we arrived to children’s the work started . Eden received 2 IVs one which went bad initially due to hitting a vein wall after drawing from it . This was her 3rd poke in less than 24hours . She also needed to be catheterized die a urine sample . From here she went to have a sedated CT with contrast . We listened to our baby cry down the hall as we handed her over to anesthesiology who was a stranger to her . A doctor approached us in the waiting room asking if we were the parents to a little 10 month old girl named Eden . We found out that she in fact did Not have neuroblastoma but a cancer called of the kidney called WILMS. We then met with a surgeon where we found out our precious caught would lose her whole kidney. We were in the hospital for 2 weeks away from our other children, 3 and 5 . Eden struggled with very high blood pressure 185/112 which is a side effect of WILMS however We were told her blood pressure was out of the high range for even that which resulted us being in the PICU due to her needing a very dangerous drug to control the blood pressure . They also need to do additional testing because some doctors in the team were worried that her cancer could be a different type due to the high blood pressure . Eden received her surgery for nephrectomy on Monday 11/23/2020. The surgery went well. She came back to us extubated and with a central line in her jugular. We were eventually discharged on Sunday and had a pathology appointment the next week to review pathology on Friday . This was when we found out our journey would continue and our daughter would fight . Her cancer had spread into a lymph node meaning she had stage 3 Wilms and would need 6 doses of radiation and 28 weeks of chemo on a 3 drug regimen. We also knew that meant Eden would need another surgery where they would place a port. Her little body also needed to be sedated every day for 6 radiation treatments. We drive an hour 15mins one way to children’s hospital of Minneapolis where she received both her radiation and gets her current chemotherapy treatment. Eden is still on blood pressure medication for her high blood pressure and receives a drug called doxorubicin as part of her chemotherapy regimen which is known to be hard on the heart. We pray every day for our father to heal her body and protect her through this time. We ask for her to feel nothing but love , comfort, and happiness in these scary times.”
-Written by Eden’s mom, Sarah Olson-Faber
During the month of February a portion of the proceeds from shopping INDY Gear and Apparel will go directly to Eden and her family. Shop now and be sure to mention Eden’s name in the comments section at checkout.