In September of 2020, Emily was at her eye appointment when the ophthalmologist noticed massive amounts of fluid behind her eyes, enlarged orbits, and fluid on her brain – just from the Childhood Cancer Awareness Month By Ta y l o r Shea We s t Photos by Lydia Sc hnitzer & Submitted Each year, more than 17,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer. Every day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 0-19 in the United States. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and Kentucky has the highest cancer rates, according to Dr. Eric Durbin, the Kentucky State Cancer Registry Director. “When you think about the statistics, picture grieving parents, siblings who don’t understand what’s happening, and children who can’t visit their friend in the hospital,” said Gaylon Hayden, President and Founder of Book for Hope, Inc. “Please see the stats as empty chairs in a classroom.” One local girl has proven against the statistical odds, taking life back into her own hands, one day at a time. In 2020, one headache changed the course of Emily Dulworth’s life. She describes herself as happy-go-lucky, enjoying life to the fullest, until headaches became more of a frequent thing in her life. Tylenol and Motrin weren’t getting rid of them like they usually did, so Dulworth’s mother thought it may have been the fact that she was on her phone so much. Emily stayed in her room more often and wanted to be in the dark as often as possible, which led her mother to believe that she was depressed. With this belief, Emily and her mother went to the doctor to look into medication. Things got a little better, however, her headaches returned. With them, vomiting came – and her left eye crossed overnight. “Now these headaches were different; it felt like a band around my head squeezing my head,” said Dulworth. “I had an upcoming eye appointment, so we started from there since I just got new eyeglasses.” equipment they had in the office. “They also noticed some spinal fluid trapped around the top of my head,” said Dulworth. “My primary doctor was notified before I left, and that’s when things got rolling.” Emily was immediately sent to Baptist Health for an MRI of her head and spine. The news they received changed her and her family’s life forever. ‘Your daughter has a brain mass.’ “We were sent up to see the neurosurgeon at Baptist Health right then and there. Frightened and scared, I walked up there in my parents’ arms,” said Dulworth. “The doctor confirmed that I had a brain mass, which was consistent with medulloblastoma, which is brain cancer. We were all speechless, crying, with no words to say.” Emily remembers asking the doctor if she could go home and get some things together, however, he told her she couldn’t leave the hospital because of the mass. Her parents decided to send her to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, and that night the intensive care ambulance from Vanderbilt came and got her from Baptist Health. “My parents couldn’t ride with me in the ambulance, and I was even more scared. My mom followed us down there; from that moment on, I needed my mom and dad more than ever. We got there and they greeted us at the door,” said Dulworth. There, she spent the night in the ER until they had a room for her in the PICU. “I got there at 1 a.m. and it seemed like I was there for eternity. I was monitored for three days before my surgery on September 4,” said Dulworth. For 10 hours, Emily underwent a craniotomy, a total resection of a brain mass with an external shunt placed due to the hydrocephalus. A tumor the size of an orange was discovered INTHEVUE.COM | PROMOTING EVENTS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE | SEPTEMBER 2022 51
