Charlotte O'Shea
Family prevails in face of young child's brain tumor
Charlotte O'Shea, 3
Charlotte O'Shea is as outgoing, energetic, and, at times, assertive as any 3-year-old can be. She enjoys drawing with her siblings and playing with dolls. While receiving chemotherapy for a brain tumor, Charlotte goes about her business as usual, proudly adorning her left leg with stickers of Disney characters. At first, she seems reluctant to part with her stickers, but if you're lucky, she'll hand you her favorite one. While her plans may change, she aspires to be the cookie baker at the Bromfield School in Harvard, Mass., where her father is principal.
The O'Shea family, like many families with several young children, exists in a constant state of low-level chaos. Jim and Janet O'Shea have two young sets of twins: Katherine and James, 9, and Will and Charlotte, 3. Jim and Janet have always been careful to devote equal attention to each child, but that balance was tipped when Charlotte was diagnosed with cancer.
In February 2006, Janet noticed something strange in her photographs of Charlotte. "I could never get a good shot of her," recalls Janet. "It always looked like one of her eyes was drooping." Charlotte's pediatrician and ophthalmologist weren't worried, but soon things got worse. "One cold Sunday, I was at a christening when Janet called, frantic, saying that Charlotte was having vomiting spells," recounts Jim. Charlotte was rushed to Children's Hospital Boston, and soon diagnosed with a rare, aggressive brain tumor known as atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT), which doctors feared had spread to her spine.
The O'Sheas were devastated. "When we took a tour of the Jimmy Fund Clinic, we saw children sitting in infusion chairs and hooked up to IV drips, and were horrified by the thought that Charlotte might soon be in their place," says Janet. But despite Charlotte's grim diagnosis, the O'Sheas soon found camaraderie from several other families whose children were also diagnosed with AT/RT. Two days after Charlotte's emergency visit to Children's, she had surgery to remove the tumor. It was successful beyond all expectations, and the ensuing chemotherapy regimen seems to be sending the cancer into remission. Incredibly, an MRI indicated that the cancer had not spread to her spine, as is often the case with such an aggressive tumor.
Charlotte's oncologist, Mark Kieran, MD, PhD, explains that AT/RT is most frequently found in very young children, and that "just a few years ago, it was thought to be completely incurable — although for our patients, 'incurable' is simply not an option." With this attitude, Kieran and Dana-Farber colleague Charles Roberts, MD, PhD, are developing highly specific therapies that could one day make AT/RT easily curable.
Life as a 'cancer family'
Janet O'Shea, who once saw the Jimmy Fund Clinic as a scary place, now thinks of it as her family's second home. The O'Shea children have taken time from school and sports to accompany Charlotte to her chemotherapy visits. Katherine and James are planning Canines for Cancer, a dog walk aimed to raise money for the Jimmy Fund.
Charlotte, meanwhile, has given back to those who have helped her by being a patient partner for Stop & Shop's Triple Winner Game, a fundraising effort whose proceeds will benefit the Stop & Shop Family Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinic at Dana-Farber, where Charlotte was treated. She's also a "pedal partner" for Team 9, a Boston Red Sox team taking part in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike-a-thon to support Dana-Farber's mission.
The O'Sheas express heartfelt gratitude to their team of nurses and doctors, as well as to the larger Dana-Farber and Children's Hospital community, who have "helped not only Charlotte but our entire family." Jim encourages other families whose children have cancer to accept offers for help. "The experience can be overwhelming, especially for those who try to bear the burden by themselves," he says.
— Christopher Ting
christopher_ting@dfci.harvard.edu
