Thursday, July 31, 2008
Fundraisers, support help local family
by Angie Cochrun | Staff Writer
Jacqueline Hobbs of Mount Airy, behind her home on April 18, is battling a cancer called neuroblastoma.
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Jacqueline Hobbs’s summer vacation has included a biopsy, surgery and rounds of chemotherapy.
The 12-year-old Mount Airy resident spent her July birthday in a hospital room in the midst of treatments to continue her fight against cancer.
Community support helps the Hobbs family with their battle as Jacqueline gears up for another lengthy medical procedure at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, said her mother, Stephanie Hobbs.
It’s good to know what incredible people are behind them back home, she said, adding the support has shocked her and her husband Merhle, who both grew up in Mount Airy. ‘‘When people found out they came together, and it’s blown us away.
‘‘Just the amount of people who don’t even know us,” Hobbs said. ‘‘It’s the money, it’s the cards, it’s the people who leave comments on CaringBridge. It really encourages her.” Jacqueline has a Web page at www.caringbridge.com⁄visit⁄jacquelinehobbs that includes updates on her.
Jacqueline will undergo a stem cell rescue, said Hobbs, adding unlike a bone marrow transplant, where a donor match is needed, doctors will use stem cells from Jacqueline that they froze.
‘‘They’re giving more aggressive chemo, then they give her back her own stem cells to bring her back up,” Hobbs said. ‘‘It’s a really long process. It sounds simple, but you go through weeks and months of chemo.”
The New Market Middle School student, who likes dancing and music, was first diagnosed in May 2007 with neuroblastoma, a form of cancer. Doctors removed the tumor in her back, and she began chemotherapy.
In June, Jacqueline had surgery to remove a tumor the size of a baseball. The surgery left Jacqueline tumor free, but with a collapsed lung. Surgeons also had to remove two ribs, two nerves and a stomach muscle.
‘‘They got almost everything in the surgery,” Hobbs said.
Initial bone marrow biopsy results were negative, but a more sensitive machine later detected cancer in Jacqueline’s bone marrow, which led to the more aggressive treatment.
Jacqueline will need to be about 10 or 15 minutes from the hospital for about two to four months, because of her weakened immune system and risk of infection, said Sue Randoph, a family friend.
Hobbs said insurance doesn’t cover the apartment the family will need to rent in Baltimore. ‘‘Honestly, without any of the fundraisers, I don’t know how we would have done any of this.”
The Hobbs who own Mount Airy Auto Detailing haven’t been able to put as much effort into their business.
‘‘He does what he can when he’s there,” said Hobbs of her husband. ‘‘I’m lucky if there are a couple days a month I’m there.”
Business has dropped, but customers understand, she said. ‘‘My husband really wants to be involved; it’s hard for him to be home when [Jacqueline’s] going through things.”
‘‘At the very beginning, we went through a year when we were very private about it,” Hobbs said. ‘‘You don’t know how to go up to people and tell them you’re hurting. We didn’t know what to do.”
