Pixy Stix aren’t exactly the breakfast of champions, but before a cheer competition day in January, that’s all that could revive 8-year-old Natalie Harrell.
As an All-Star cheerleader for Plant City’s Dance Carousel, Natalie, sporting sparkly eyeshadow and a perky ponytail, looked every part the spunky cheerleader. But, on this day, she wasn’t feeling it. She had been sick for months — first the flu, then mono. She couldn’t warm up but still wanted to compete with her teammates.
“That’s how strong this girl is,” instructor Lori Matta says.
Despite looking gray and tired, Natalie took the stage with her teammates and cheered like she never had before.
Three weeks later, Natalie was diagnosed with cancer — a malignant nongerminomatous germ cell on her brain. And in an instant, Natalie went from cheerleader to having an entire community cheering for her.
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS
It was an accident that first sent Natalie to the hospital. In August 2012, she fell off a barstool in her family’s kitchen and landed flat on the tile floor, breaking her nose.
“(It was a) quick trip to the (doctor) and a little glue from a plastic surgeon, and we were off to cheerleading practice,” mother Shannon wrote in her online CaringBridge journal.
Weeks later, the headaches began — headaches so fierce that they caused Natalie to vomit. But a trip to the neurologist revealed nothing.
In November, the family headed to Fort Myers for Thanksgiving. On the way down, Natalie began to run a fever. By the time they made it to their destination, the fever had spiked, and she was vomiting.
Severely dehydrated and lethargic, Natalie slumped into the ER to get a head CT scan, belly ultrasound, echocardiogram, chest X-ray and a painful spinal tap.
The diagnosis: the common flu.
After four days of fluids and Tamiflu, Natalie was headed home, albeit eight pounds lighter.
Natalie never recovered from the flu during Christmas.
“We left for Tennessee and hoped the vacation would get her up and around,” Shannon remembers.
But it didn’t.
And not even Santa or presents excited her. Instead, she spent her days sleeping.
THE DIAGNOSIS
When the family returned from vacation, they visited the doctor again. This time, Natalie was diagnosed with mono. After losing two more pounds, she was sent to the gastroenterologist.
“My 53-pound, soon-to-be 8-year-old, active, full-of-life girl, was 39 pounds,” Shannon wrote.
The family returned to the doctor for an endoscopy.
“We walked from the office to the Children’s Hospital at St. Joseph’s and checked into our new home, fully expecting to get a scope done, fix whatever was wrong with her gastro tract and be on our way,” Shannon wrote.
When doctors found no problem in her stomach, they sent the family to the neurology department for an MRI. During the scan, a technician told Shannon the radiologist requested additional pictures.
“My heart was in my throat,” Shannon remembers. “I knew that was bad news. I began praying, and crying and praying some more.”
The additional photos revealed the a golf ball-sized tumor in her brain. She was scheduled for brain surgery the next morning, Jan. 30.
All her previous ailments were aptly diagnosed, but they had stopped the doctors from looking any further.
“It dropped me to my knees,” Shannon says. “I was hysterical.”
MIRACLE FLYER
Brain surgery comes with no guarantees, and the family had only more one night to spend with Natalie.
“We didn’t know if she would know us when she woke up,” Shannon says.
The five-hour surgery began at 7:30 a.m. Unfortunately, surgeons discovered the tumor was attached to too many vital structures in the brain to be removed, and they only could extract a few, small fragments.
But when Natalie emerged from surgery, she was still the same little girl. She was even talking to the nurses while they hooked up her IV.
Natalie’s tumor consumes the hypothalamus. It pushes on the pituitary gland and, now, is invading the optic nerve, threatening Natalie’s eyesight. Without the option of surgery, the family turned to chemotherapy.
THE FIGHT
Natalie has completed her second of six chemo treatments and is responding well.
With a nongerminomatous germ cell tumor, chemo has proven to be an effective treatment. The 10-year overall survival for a malignant nongerminomatous germ cell is between 70% and 80%, according to the National Cancer Institute.
With Natalie’s tumor, the tissue is not from the brain. Instead, while she was still a fetus, excess tissue from her ovaries was redirected to her brain. Once the tumor is gone, there is no chance of it recurring, because the initial tissue was foreign.
The Harrells continue to fight the tumor, which is “dying in the wrong direction,” putting more pressure on her optic nerve.
Still, Natalie has excelled past expectations in recent eye exams.
“She is the most incredible little girl,” Matta says. “It’s been very difficult without her here on our team.”
For now, Natalie is taking a break from class at Walden Lake Elementary and is being home-schooled.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
BENEFIT
When Katie Sparkman heard her good friend’s daughter had cancer, she felt she had to do something.
So Sparkman and another friend, Julie Cole, jumped on the “Team Natalie” bandwagon as some of her biggest fans. They created a fundraising event, Team Natalie Movie Night.
“We want to show Shannon (Harrell), who isn’t originally from here, what Plant City is all about,” Sparkman says. “This is the benefit of living in a small town. We support each other.”
“Natalie is like an angel on earth,” Sparkman says.
WHEN: 6:30 p.m.; movie starts at 7:30 p.m.; April 5
WHERE: Sparky’s Corporate Office; 702 Tillman Place
DETAILS: Bring your lawn chairs and blankets for a special viewing of “Wreck-It Ralph.” All proceeds will go to Natalie’s medical fund. There will be favorite movie snacks, such as popcorn and candy, for sale. Face painting and raffle items will also be part of the festivities. Raffle donations are still needed.
COST: $5
CONTACT: Katie Sparkman, (813) 299-3901“>http://xsport-tv.com/vzyat-deneg-do-zarplati.php