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3-year-old battling cancer marks major milestone

By: WSB Community

Gainesville, Ga. – After multiple radiation treatments, brain surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy, doctors say toddler Brecklynn Allgood has “no evidence of disease.”

“In one year’s time, our entire life has just completely changed,” Brecklynn’s mother, Courtney said. “But now we have so much hope and we’re at such a good place and we kind of want to just put it all behind us and get to live life.”

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Although she is turning a page in her treatment, Brecklynn’s mother says their journey is not over yet.

“The truth of the matter is she had full brain radiation at barely 3 years old and there’s going to be a lot of side effects that will be coming down the road,” Courtney Allgood said. “Childhood cancer will forever be a part of our lives, and we will forever be praying for all the other families joining this fight.”

For the next five years, Brecklynn will return to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for scans every three months to make sure she is still NED, or has “no evidence of disease.” Allgood said she cannot thank their community enough.

“All the support and all the prayers have changed the course of her cancer journey and I know that now,” Allgood said. “She’s been healed because God has worked through her little life and all these people have been part of it.”

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It has been nearly a year since the toddler’s diagnosis. It began when Brecklynn’s parents picked her up from preschool early because she was vomiting and unable to walk. Her mother said that as soon as she saw the X-rays, she knew something was wrong.

“We saw a huge white … it almost looked like a cloud,” Courtney said. “That’s when they began finding the tumors everywhere else in her body.”

The preschool student had tumors in her lungs, arm, leg, spine and brain. Doctors diagnosed her with a rare form of childhood lung cancer, made even more uncommon by its spread. Since last November, Brecklynn has undergone more than 30 radiation treatments and multiple surgeries.

The 3-year-old said she’s excited to get back to preschool with her friends.

“We had to go to radiation every single day, and she didn’t get to go to school, and so she kept on asking, ‘When do I get to go back?’” Allgood said.

Her first scan is scheduled for next month.