Naomi and Dalton sought a second opinion at Cincinnati Children’s when their daughter, Taya, was diagnosed with recurrent sarcoma. The Surgical Oncology Center team used a combination of high-tech and minimally invasive techniques to remove Taya’s cancer and provide her with a second chance.
When Taya’s cancer returned, her parents, Naomi and Dalton, told Taya’s doctor they wanted to try surgically removing the cancer again.
A few years prior, Taya had been diagnosed with sarcoma, a type of cancer that develops in the bones and soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system.
She was 2 years old and in “very serious condition,” Naomi said. She needed a pediatric surgical oncologist who could remove a tumor in a sensitive area.
Thankfully, Taya received the help she needed after being referred to a pediatric neurologist at the children’s hospital near her home in northern Ohio.
At first, the neurology team suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome—a condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves—but then an MRI revealed the true culprit: a six-vertebrae-long tumor within Taya’s spinal column that was severely pressing on her spinal cord.
“We had good care there,” Naomi said, and Taya’s tumor was successfully removed,
After her surgery, Taya received chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatments. For her radiation, Taya and her family traveled to Cincinnati Children’s Proton Therapy Center for a precise and advanced form of radiation therapy that allows the radiation to follow the shape of the tumor.
“We loved Cincinnati Children’s, everything about it, even down to the food,” Naomi said. “Everyone was super nice. Just walking down the hallways, nurses would say ‘hi’ or ‘good morning.’ It was just a great atmosphere to be in during such a negative time of our lives.”
But for Taya’s second battle with cancer, the family was told that additional surgeries wouldn’t be able to remove all of the tumor, and Taya began another round of chemotherapy.
“Chemotherapy was going OK, but the scans, which were done once a month after her surgeries, showed the cancer was growing,” Naomi said.
“It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough where, as a mom, I was asking, ‘Why is this still growing if we’re doing chemotherapy?’ We wanted it all out. We wanted a really good second chance at this.”
Naomi and Dalton told Taya’s doctor they wanted to try surgery again. When the surgical team demurred, Taya’s oncologist told the parents he’d refer Taya wherever they wanted.
“Immediately, Dalton and I said we wanted to go to Cincinnati Children’s,” Naomi said.
The family soon met with Roshni Dasgupta, MD, MPH, a pediatric surgeon in Cincinnati Children’s Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery.
“Taya came to us as a recurrent sarcoma patient,” Dr. Dasgupta said, referring to patients whose cancer returns after initial treatment. “She’d had some difficult operative experiences already. She’d also had second-line chemotherapy that wasn’t working—the tumor was growing—so they came to us for a second opinion. They were pretty anxious to see if there was anything surgical that could be done.”
Dr. Dasgupta looked at Taya’s scans and noted the tumor was in a “pretty hard location” for surgery, but not impossible.
“It involved the very top of her chest, very close to her spinal cord and her nerve roots, which are nerves that come out of her spinal cord that work with her hand and arm function,” she said. “I realized we needed other people, not just me, to help with this complex case.”
Dr. Dasgupta tapped into the expertise of her colleagues within Cincinnati Children’s Surgical Oncology Center to create a multidisciplinary sarcoma team for Taya. In addition to Dr. Dasgupta herself, the team included a medical oncologist, a neurosurgeon and a pediatric general surgeon who specializes in robotic procedures.
Using Cincinnati Children’s hybrid operating room, which combines surgery and interventional radiology in one location (and is the first of its kind for a pediatric hospital), the team members performed a 12-hour operation on Taya to remove the cancer.
“The hybrid operating room allows us to use advanced imaging techniques to find the tumor and then localize it, so that when we operate, we know we’re in the right place,” Dr. Dasgupta.
“That’s especially helpful with a patient like Taya who’s had multiple operations and radiation therapy, and scars can make it hard to tell what’s tumor and what’s normal tissue. Having advanced imaging guidance is really helpful to ensure we’re doing this as safely as possible.”
Once they knew where to operate, Dr. Dasgupta and the neurosurgeon, Jesse Skoch, MD, removed the tumor while avoiding sensitive areas.
Scans following the surgery showed no evidence of cancer.
Today, roughly six months after the surgery, Taya is still in remission and doing well. She lost some sensation in two of her fingers and wears a neck brace because of impacts to the vertebrae in her spine, but otherwise, she’s a typical 6-year-old—going to school, playing with friends and looking forward to playing T-ball next season.
Although Taya will continue to need close monitoring—as Naomi said, “her journey will never truly be over”—her family takes each day as it comes and does everything they can to enjoy life.
“People ask me how we do it,” Naomi said. “We always say it’s been easy because of who Taya is. She lights up a room. She’s very smart and funny. She’s outgoing and loves people.”
Dr. Dasgupta agreed: “She’s so vibrant and happy. She’s very much a lesson to all of us about how you can deal with setbacks and still live your life to the fullest.”
Taya also is a testament to Cincinnati Children’s ability to “tackle really complex cases,” Dr. Dasgupta said. “Her story shows how we’re able to combine our resources, think outside our specialty, and say ‘yes’ when others say ‘no.’”
(Published November 2024)
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