Baltimore Steps Up To Help Tennessee Girl, 7, Fighting Rare Cancer At Hopkins
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Seven years old and battling cancer. Like a lot of other children, that fight has brought Julia Warren to Johns Hopkins.
Alex DeMetrick reports it's a struggle that takes help.
Seven-year-old Julia and her grandmother walk to their latest medical appointment at Johns Hopkins.
There have been many since they left their home in Tennessee last March.
Julia is being treated for an aggressive and rare form of soft tissue cancer.
There have been dozens of chemo and radiation treatments and surgery to remove a tumor in her arm.
"We'll have to watch that area very closely for a new tumor," said Leigh Ann Eddy, Julia's grandmother.
And not just her arm, this cancer can wrap around nerve endings elsewhere.
"Over the next two years, we'll face having to come back here and have scans done to make sure no new tumors have gone," Eddy said.
Despite what she's gone through, Julia plays with other patients and made friends with a visiting therapy dog.
She's even seen a few Baltimore sights.
"I got to see the aquarium and zoo," Julia said.
This is more than a medical and emotional ordeal. Bills are piling up, but people in Baltimore are stepping up to help.
"Thank God for the Believe in Tomorrow Children's House because if it wasn't for this place we would not be able to go through the treatments that we go through," Eddy said.
But even with discounts at the Children's House at Johns Hopkins, months away from home as well as medical bills are taking a financial toll.
"Just the people in Baltimore who don't even know us have really stepped up," Eddy said.
For a fundraiser this Friday, "the Medieval Times donated tickets to be raffled off," Eddy said. "The Baltimore Symphony donated tickets. The Hilton, a weekend."
This help comes for a little girl who also has plans.
DeMetrick: "What's the first thing you want to do when you get back home?"
Julia: "Squeeze my dog."
DeMetrick: "What's his name?"
Julia: "Luke."
It is a reunion that could happen in September if all goes well.
For more information about Friday's fundraiser for Julia click here.
