Elijah (Eli) Horn was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma on June 29th, 2007 at around the age of three and a half. He had a massive tumor growing in his body that went from his pelvis, up through his abdomen, and up into his chest.

Eli was being treated in Iowa City at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital until November of 2007. The plan in Iowa City was like most plans around the country, to give Eli 5 rounds of chemo, surgically remove whatever tumor is left in his abdomen, and then do tandem autologous stem cell transplants. It is a very dangerous and extremely high dose chemotherapy that basically wipes out all of your body's stem cells, then you rescue their body by transplanting them with their own stem cells you harvested earlier in the process.

We came to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City in October for the hands of Dr. LaQuaglia who performed Eli's surgery to remove the tumor from around his aorta, his kidney arteries, and everywhere else the tumor was still found. People come from all over the world to have Dr. LaQuaglia do their neuroblastoma surgery. He is an amazing surgeon. During the time we were here, we learned about Sloan's alternative to stem cell transplants. The team here uses 3F8 antibody treatments that highlight the neuroblastoma cells and makes your own body attack the cancer. Even though it is considered more "experimental", it has a good 20 year track record and we feel that there is much more experience with this cancer here in NYC. So while we miss our home in Iowa, we are thrilled to be getting great treatment in New York.

Romans 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

SITE Features


videos - Check out all of the latest Eli Videos at Eli's YouTube site.

carepage - Track Eli's progress with daily updates on Eli's CarePage. To receive the correct CarePage Name, simply e-mail Aaron and request it.

photos - The most up to date photos can be found in our online Photo Album.

calendar - A VERY Tentative calendar of Eli's treatments.

 

eli videos