Calgary girl with rare liver cancer listed for organ transplant in U.S.
CBC News | Posted: May 2, 2017 8:01 PM | Last Updated: May 2, 2017
Greta Marofke, 3, was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma shortly before her 2nd birthday
A three-year-old Calgary girl battling a rare liver cancer is one step closer to receiving a potentially life-saving organ transplant.
Her family was informed this week by a hospital in Cincinnati that she has officially been added to the transplant waiting list in the United States.
Greta Marofke was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma shortly before her second birthday. Alberta Children's Hospital successfully treated the cancer, but it came back in August 2016.
Her mother, Lindsey Marofke, was told by the hospital palliative care was their only remaining option.
U.S hospital offers to try
A doctor at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, who the family says is the "unofficial expert" in Greta's type of cancer, told the family a liver transplant could save the little girl, but as Canadian citizens without U.S. health insurance, the operation and treatment are likely to cost the family $1 million.
"Part of the problem is there's not enough organs available in Canada, we have a low participation in organ donation and getting on that list is really difficult to do," Marofke told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday.
The family turned to the hospital in Cincinnati where Greta has been receiving treatment since March. Last month, her tumour was treated with transartirial radioembolization — a targeted high dose of radiation that helped reduce Greta's cancer.
"Doctors there needed to see that her cancer was responding to something to be able to go ahead and do a transplant, otherwise the risk of it coming back would just be too great if it didn't respond to anything," Marofke said.
Moving to Cincinnati
Now that Greta has been listed, the family is heading to Ohio to wait for the call that a cadaver organ is available, which doctors say could happened in the next three to five weeks. Several family members and friends are also currently being tested to see if they are a match to be a live organ donor for Greta.
The cost of the surgery will be paid through a combination of the family's GoFundMe page, fundraisers and the family's retirement savings plans. Marofke says she's grateful for the amount of support the family has received.
"The thought of paying for all of it with our families, it would drastically change everyone's life going forward, retirement plans and stuff would look a little different," she said. "So we're working as a family to do what we can but anything that can help us get there will help tremendously."
Marofke says doctors at the hospital are working with them to help keep the cost as low as possible and Greta's medical team in Calgary is working with the American hospital to perform necessary tests here in Canada.
The Cincinnati team also plan to reach out to doctors in Alberta to try to convince them to perform the organ transplant in the province.
"No one is holding their breath … but we have to try, it won't happen if we don't ask," she said.
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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener