Welcome home, Toni Simmons

RBC I Toni Simmons was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma cancer in April 2009. She had a mass growing in her hip that was making it hard to walk. The mass grew to be about the size of a basketball when doctors ran a test and found out it was cancerous. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation at Rocky Mountain Cancer Center in Denver, Colo. to shrink the tumor.
After receiving treatments for a year and a half she was told she was cancer-free. During this time Toni cared for her 1-1/2 year old daughter. Toni was told that she had a slim chance of having another child due to the radiation and chemo but she ended up giving birth to her son. After giving birth Toni went in for a scan to make sure she still did not have cancer and it had returned.
She underwent more chemo and radiation and transferred from Rocky Mountain Cancer Center in Denver to Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. There they steered her in the right direction and helped her to become healthy again. She had twice as many cells to harvest than were needed so that she could have a blood transfusion to gain good blood cells and get rid of the bad ones. Toni also had to have surgery to remove the tumor out of her hip. Doctors were going to replace the bone but the tumor and cancer had damaged the surrounding area so much that they were unable to replace the bone so now she is missing the iliac wing of her left hip. She also had surgery to remove part of her left lung that the cancer had spread to.
After the surgeries Toni had to have blood transfusions which was the hardest part as she was unable to have physical contact with her children for three weeks. Now that the transfusions are complete and the radiation is coming to an end Toni gets to come home. She still has a few hurdles to overcome and an immune system to rebuild but she is on the mend.
Toni has fought hard for three long years and now she will get to be home with her family and start a new beginning.