tessa

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Tessa was diagnosed at age 5 with stage four neuroblastoma. She was just two months into her kindergarten year when she had to drop out of school and focus on her treatment. Round after round of high dose chemo, tumor resection surgery and Tessas disease was not responding as any of us had hoped. She no longer qualified for the COG (Childrens Oncology Group) protocol and was forced to start clinical trials. After three clinical trials at C.S. Mott in Ann Arbor, Tessa's disease began to increase. We transferred her full time care over to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY.

Tessa was treated at MSKCC for almost two years and experimented with many, many clinical trials. Eventually her disease started to increase once again and she was out of options at MSKCC. She then transferred her care to Helen DeVos in Grand Rapids, where she participated in many more clinical trials. Her disease eventually gained control and momentum and wouldn't back down no matter what we threw at it.

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When Tessa was crowned she felt beautiful... and unique. She felt special, like the crown replaced any idea she had of not being "normal," having hair and instead gave her a different type of confidence, like she finally knew just how beautiful she truly was! 

Tessa passed away in June of 2017 after a nearly four year battle with cancer, she was only 9 years old but was wise beyond her years and had a love of life like no other.

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