After daughter's cancer battle, family to give back
Even though she's teething, 14-month-old Ava Edgar sleeps soundly on most nights, resting without a peep from 8:30 at night to 7:30 in the morning.
The child's recovering remarkably given that, on Feb. 12, she underwent surgery to remove her right eye which was consumed by a tumor.
"She's doing well right now," said her father, Peter Edgar. "She's cancer-free. It hasn't spread."
The elder Edgar, who will mark 12 years with the Hoffman Estates Police Department in August, works as the Conant High School police consultant. Motivated by their daughter's courageous battle, Edgar and his wife want to give back to the community.
"We thought about our daughter and wanted to make more people aware," Edgar said.
They've organized a charity event on Saturday, May 23, at the Neighborhood Inn in Hoffman Estates to benefit St. Baldrick's Foundation, which raises money for childhood cancer research.
Testing for the cancer that affected Ava has improved in the last five years. Doctors now consider the case genetic, meaning it has a chance to reappear, and without the recent breakthroughs in research, the Edgars wouldn't have known that. That research is funded by donations like those from St. Baldrick's, and that's why Edgar put together their event.
"We have better ways to test now, and we need to look at this more," he said.
Edgar said his wife, Sarah, discovered the yellowish growth on their daughter's eye after noticing an odd reflection in her eye while the family was sitting in the living room of their Elgin home.
The Edgars took Ava to the pediatrician, who referred them to an ophthalmologist. After tests, doctors determined Ava suffered from retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer that usually appears in children under 5. The tumor covered 80 percent of her eye. Doctors report about 300 cases of the disease each year.
Though considered genetic, doctors don't know where the cancer came from, and neither parent has a known history of the disease, Edgar said.
Since her surgery at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ava's been fitted with a prosthetic eye which resembles a contact lens, which needs to be kept clean and free of infection. Her aftercare includes extensive eye exams every six to eight weeks, and she'll also have to undergo MRIs every six months until she's at least 7. That's when the chances of the cancer reappearing decrease.
Sarah Edgar quit her job to focus caring for Ava, but the future looks bright. The family has received support from a variety of places including family, the Neighborhood Inn and the Shear Magic salon, which will be shaving the volunteers' heads, to empathize with children who have lost hair during chemotherapy. They've already raised more than $4,000, well on their way to their goal of $5,000.
<p class="factboxheadblack">If you go</p> <p class="News"><b>What:</b> Silent auction and head-shaving for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which benefits children's cancer research. The fundraising goal is $5,000.</p> <p class="News"><b>When:</b> Saturday, May 23. Early sign-in starts at 1:30 p.m.; event starts at 2 p.m.; free buffet starts at 11 a.m.</p> <p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Neighborhood Inn, 2322 Hassell Road, Hoffman Estates.</p> <p class="News"><b>Info:</b> Contact event organizer and Hoffman Estates Police Officer Peter Edgar at (847) 875-3219 or cwbyfn@hotmail.com, or go to <a href="http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/event_info.php?EventKey=2009-2117" target="new">stbaldricks.org/events/event_info.php?EventKey=2009-2117</a>.</p>