This is Tommy Popp. At just months shy of his 3rd birthday a malignant tumor was incidentally found on the right upper lobe of his liver. After numerous pokes, pricks, sedations, scans, and a life changing biopsy, it was confirmed that Tommy had hepatoblastoma or liver cancer on August 19, 2021.
From there everything moved pretty quickly. His oncologist from Advocate Hope Children's hospital sent Tommy to Lurie’s Childrens hospital where a world renown surgeon who specializes in transplants and resections performed the surgery. The surgeon confidently told his parents that the tumor could be resected and on September 1, 2021 Tommy underwent a complete liver resection where a lemon size tumor was removed as well as half of his liver. Based on this type of tumor, it was advised that Tommy undergo two rounds of chemotherapy to prevent reoccurrence.
On October 1, 2021 Tommy started his first round of chemotherapy and on November 12th Tommy received his end of treatment celebration at Hope Children’s Hospital where he proudly rang the bell of remission. Since then, Tommy’s liver has fully regrown and he goes monthly for labs and quarterly for scans. In June 2022 he had his first set of post chemo scans that came back clear meaning no evidence of cancer. Tommy is currently 8 months into his remission journey and doing great. This fall he is enrolled in 3year old preschool at St. Christina elementary school. He loves being around his big brother Jack and sisters Lucy and Catherine and has been enjoying his summer playing tball, swimming, and just being a kid.