QUOTE
Dylan keeps up his brave cancer fight
Stefanie Balogh
December 22, 2007 12:00am
Positive sign: Dylan Hartung yesterday. His hair has grown back after his 14th round of chemotherapy in New York. Picture: Stuart Ransom
FOR the past three years Dylan Hartung has made the same two Christmas wishes - a cure for all cancers and to return home to Australia.
The nine-year-old is preparing to celebrate his third Christmas in Manhattan's Ronald McDonald House, where he has lived in a small room with his mum Melissa Hartung since January 2005.
Four months ago his dad, Tim Hartung, and brother Cain, 13, moved over from the Melbourne suburb of Skye to New York full-time.
With his brown hair now grown back after completing his 14th round of chemotherapy, Dylan continues to be the toughest little Aussie in Manhattan.
He was given less than a year to live when he was diagnosed in 2004 with a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma.
With options limited in Australia, Dylan and his mum moved to New York to receive experimental cancer treatments at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.
He is determined to keep defying the critics and has completed a course of the radical 3F8 monoclonal antibody therapy that cleared up two spots in his skull.
"Right now he's good," Ms Hartung said.
"He's still here. He's well. His quality of life is fantastic.
"A lot of people think that experimental treatments and clinical trials . . . it sounds like they are guinea pigs and it is awful, but actually it's much kinder than chemotherapy and radiation.
"There is still no cure for this cancer. His chances are still slim, but he's here."
Ms Hartung said the family was moving forward slowly.
"The rest of his disease is stable -- it hasn't got any worse," she said.
Ms Hartung's Christmas wish is for a cure for neuroblastoma.
"I'm confident it will come eventually -- it's just a racing game to keep Dylan here until it comes."
Dylan's tale has captured many hearts in Australia and the US.
He met Nicole Kidman in August 2005 and Angelina Jolie has visited him.
Asked which actor was his favourite, Dylan smiled and said: "Nicole. She is a better friend."
And, confiding the two stay in touch, he said: "We are very close friends."
Dylan said this year Ms Kidman "called me on the phone to tell me that she was going to Australia to film her movie (Australia)."
Dylan and his family call the Ronald McDonald House on New York's Upper East Side home along with more than 80 other families. About 80 per cent of the children in the house have neuroblastoma.
After 3F8 treatment, Dylan developed a resistance to the mouse antibodies.
His resistance can subside with time, but the hospital is in the process of humanising the antibodies.
He has also completed a course of oral medication and next month will start a clinical trial with a vaccine.
Ms Hartung said fundraising had slowed because Dylan had been in New York for three years but "we're doing OK".
The treatments have left the Hartungs in debt.
The family is supported by Operation Oz Kids, run by the American Australian Association, which helps with living costs, and other fundraisers are held in Australia.
"The support is still strong," Ms Hartung said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...06-2862,00.html
Stefanie Balogh
December 22, 2007 12:00am
Positive sign: Dylan Hartung yesterday. His hair has grown back after his 14th round of chemotherapy in New York. Picture: Stuart Ransom
FOR the past three years Dylan Hartung has made the same two Christmas wishes - a cure for all cancers and to return home to Australia.
The nine-year-old is preparing to celebrate his third Christmas in Manhattan's Ronald McDonald House, where he has lived in a small room with his mum Melissa Hartung since January 2005.
Four months ago his dad, Tim Hartung, and brother Cain, 13, moved over from the Melbourne suburb of Skye to New York full-time.
With his brown hair now grown back after completing his 14th round of chemotherapy, Dylan continues to be the toughest little Aussie in Manhattan.
He was given less than a year to live when he was diagnosed in 2004 with a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma.
With options limited in Australia, Dylan and his mum moved to New York to receive experimental cancer treatments at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.
He is determined to keep defying the critics and has completed a course of the radical 3F8 monoclonal antibody therapy that cleared up two spots in his skull.
"Right now he's good," Ms Hartung said.
"He's still here. He's well. His quality of life is fantastic.
"A lot of people think that experimental treatments and clinical trials . . . it sounds like they are guinea pigs and it is awful, but actually it's much kinder than chemotherapy and radiation.
"There is still no cure for this cancer. His chances are still slim, but he's here."
Ms Hartung said the family was moving forward slowly.
"The rest of his disease is stable -- it hasn't got any worse," she said.
Ms Hartung's Christmas wish is for a cure for neuroblastoma.
"I'm confident it will come eventually -- it's just a racing game to keep Dylan here until it comes."
Dylan's tale has captured many hearts in Australia and the US.
He met Nicole Kidman in August 2005 and Angelina Jolie has visited him.
Asked which actor was his favourite, Dylan smiled and said: "Nicole. She is a better friend."
And, confiding the two stay in touch, he said: "We are very close friends."
Dylan said this year Ms Kidman "called me on the phone to tell me that she was going to Australia to film her movie (Australia)."
Dylan and his family call the Ronald McDonald House on New York's Upper East Side home along with more than 80 other families. About 80 per cent of the children in the house have neuroblastoma.
After 3F8 treatment, Dylan developed a resistance to the mouse antibodies.
His resistance can subside with time, but the hospital is in the process of humanising the antibodies.
He has also completed a course of oral medication and next month will start a clinical trial with a vaccine.
Ms Hartung said fundraising had slowed because Dylan had been in New York for three years but "we're doing OK".
The treatments have left the Hartungs in debt.
The family is supported by Operation Oz Kids, run by the American Australian Association, which helps with living costs, and other fundraisers are held in Australia.
"The support is still strong," Ms Hartung said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...06-2862,00.html
