With September being Kick Childhood Cancer Month across Major League Soccer, the Subaru Love Promise Playmaker will turn its focus to telling to stories of those families who are or have battled the disease. Ahead of Philadelphia Union's road match against FC Cincinnati, we're proud to honor Danica Mulholland.
Christmas Eve 2018 around 9 p.m. Danica complained of a headache and shortly after she started vomiting. Her parents didn't think anything of it, just thought she was coming down with something. Early Christmas morning around 2 a.m., Danica said that she wanted to go to the doctor and so she was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center. During the visit the Mulholland family met Danica's Guardian Angel Nurse Dottie. The doctor came in to examine Danica and she said she was just dehydrated and had a stomach bug. However Nurse Dottie knew it was something more when she didn't move as she placed the IV. She kept hounding the doctor about a head CT and when it was ordered it confirmed her suspicion as it showed something abnormal. Upon a closer look the doctor said they'd found a 3 cm lesion on the rear lobe of their daughter's brain. The family saw Dottie leave the room and they quickly asked what did it mean and she explained what it could be and said they'd be transfering Danica to Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia. Nurse Dottie arranged for transportation via helicopter to get the family to CHOP where another CT scan was done as well as a MRI. On December 27, 2018 Danica was taken into surgery that lasted 11 hours and so began her long road of recovery which would require intense physical therapy to get all her motor functions back.
The tumor was sent to the lab at CHOP and they also sent a sample to St. Jude because the pathology was inconclusive. Pathology came back as Medulloblastoma with SHH and TP53 mutation. The family opted to go with the SJMB03 protocol that consists of 31 treatments of proton radiation therapy of full cranial and spine, followed by four cycles of high dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant.
Danica completed treatment on August 1, 2019, and for the next part of the journey she needed to go in every three months for routine testing and MRI. The testing and MRI’s came back each time with no evidence of disease. On July 25, 2020 Danica went in for her normal testing and MRI and this time it was discovered that the cancer is back with a tumor that was 25mm. In early July this year, Danica underwent her second brain surgery where the surgeon was able to remove most of the tumor but one 6mm spot remained.
Since surgery, Danica has been in physical therapy and working hard on getting back all motor functions. Danica is currently waiting on experimental treatment at Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC. As of the last MRI on August 7th the spot has grown to 10mm. Due to COVID-19, her treatment has been delayed but is expected to start on September 28, 2020.
During COVID-19 Danica wanted to give back and help her friends at the hospital and the nurses and doctors that helped her. She started Operation Save The Ears. Starting off with one 3D printer, the ear saver factory started. She soon added a second 3D printer to help with the high demand. She donated over 5,000 ear savers. Special superhero ear savers were donated to Kisses for Kyle Foundation, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Christopher's Hospital for children fighting childhood cancer.
