Friday, Jan. 25, 2008
Cancer changes family’s lives
By AMANDA ROGERS
News-Mirror Writer
Now, the 4 1/2-year-old deals with chemotherapy, radiation and dialysis at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
Four days after Christmas, doctors found a grapefruit-size tumor on her left kidney and other tumors on her lungs. On New Year’s Eve, they removed her kidney, but then her right kidney failed.
Richard and Kristin Hart are trying to adjust to seeing their bubbly daughter lying in weakly in a hospital bed.
“Three weeks ago, we were skipping through life, not a care in the world,” Richard Hart said from the hospital a couple of weeks ago.
Before Christmas, the Harts had taken Haley to the doctor because she wasn’t feeling well.
“They said it sounded like a sinus infection, so they put her on antibiotics,” Kristin Hart said. “She had a fever. We could tell she wasn’t herself.”
On Dec. 29, Haley and her mom were running errands when she started to feel really sick.
“She said her tummy hurt and her head hurt,” Kristin Hart said. “She clenched her fists and said ‘I can’t take it anymore.’”
She took Haley to an urgent care center in Hurst, where X-rays were taken.
“We were almost home and they called us and said to come (to Cooks),” Kristin Hart said. “They said they saw something on the X-ray and it couldn’t wait.”
Richard joined them and had a sense that something was very wrong.
“We came here and it was packed,” he said. “We told them who we were and they took us right back. I think everyone knew what it was when they saw the X-ray.”
The X-ray showed a Wilms tumor on her left kidney that had spread to her lungs. The tumor is the most common type of kidney tumor, said Dr. Kenneth Heym, Haley’s oncologist.
Two days later, doctors removed Haley’s left kidney.
“The tumor pretty much covered (her kidney) up and some lymph nodes,” Richard Hart said. “The right kidney quit. We waited for it to start back up. They did a scan and said it’s not working and it’s not going to work.”
But sometimes doctors are mistaken.
Eleven days later, Haley began to urinate. Since she had only one kidney and it wasn’t supposed to be working, the doctors were surprised. An ultrasound showed that Haley’s remaining kidney was getting blood flow.
“We had thought that the right kidney looked like it wasn’t going to work,” Heym said. “Now we’re all getting hopeful. It was the best surprise you could have gotten.”
The Harts, who live in Grandview, have close ties to Mansfield. Kristin Hart is the secretary at the fire department, and Haley attends the Primrose School of Walnut Creek. Kristin Hart’s parents, Jim and Alice Cox, have lived in Mansfield for 16 years.
The family was ready for some good news.
“She’s usually really happy and talks to everybody,” Kristin Hart said. “Since she’s been here she keeps to herself.”
Her parents say Haley is normally the life of the party, smiling and talking to everyone.
That’s how Gary Golson always thinks of her. His son, Gabe, has been in school with Haley for about a year and a half. The two children are friends, and Golson always looks for her bright smile when he picks up his son. The news that Haley has cancer hit him hard.
“I’ve always loved kids,” Golson said. “But I’ve never had this kind of situation. It could have been my little boy as easily as their little girl.”
Golson, who owns an advertising company, decided he had to do something.
The Harts have insurance, but Golson worried about the other things that will come up. He quickly set up an account for them at Bank of America called the Haley Hart Fund.
Then he began working with the fire department, putting out fliers attached to firemen’s boots at local restaurants and businesses. Soon, Haley’s face was in stores across town.
Currently, he’s working on a Web site, www.HaleyHartFund.org.
“This story, whether you know her or not, touches a lot of people,” Golson said.
And a lot of people have shown they care. The fire department has promised $5,000, while Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market has promised $1,000.
Friends and relatives have crowded Haley’s room, filling it with balloons, stuffed animals and games.
“This has been amazing, the outpouring of support,” said Richard Hart. “We didn’t know we had any friends.”
When asked what the family needed, he replied, “I want everybody to know Haley’s sick. Please pray for her. That’s all we need.”
“We were skipping through life, without a care in the world.”
— Richard Hart, whose daughter Haley has been diagnosed with cancer
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