8-Year-Old Girl Has 'One in a Million' Form of Breast Cancer
A young girl from Centerville, Utah, 8-year-old Chrissy Turner, has been diagnosed with a very rare type of breast cancer, which has been found in only "one in a million" people. A family friend has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help cover treatment costs.
Troy Turner, Chrissy's father who is battling the return of his Non-Hodkin's Lymphoma, told ABC 4 Utah that his daughter approached them around mid October about a lump on her chest. After a series of tests, it was found that Chrissy had Secretory Carcinoma.
"Only 1 in one million are diagnosed and she is the youngest that they've run across having this particular type of breast cancer," her mother Annette Turner, a cervical cancer survivor, said.
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Fortunately, Chrissy's condition is "very treatable," one of her doctors, Brian Bucher, a general surgeon at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, was quoted as saying by The Guardian. Bucher says they will need to remove all of her remaining breast tissue to prevent the cancer from returning.
Chrissy's therapy will start with a mastectomy at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. The third grader will also have to undergo blood work and scans for the next five years, according to Today.
To help offset these medical expenses, Melissa Papaj, a family friend, started a Go Fund Me campaign on Nov. 17, which has since raised nearly $50,000. Papaj has also created a Facebook page, called Chrissy's Alliance, to keep friends and supporters updated about the fund raising and Chrissy's situation.
Although she was scared when she first found out about her cancer, Chrissy told ABC 4 Utah that she knows and hopes she can fight it off.
Secretory Carcinoma is a slow-growing cancer that usually affects adolescents. Although not unknown in pre-adolescent children, it is very rare.
