Baby survives rare cancer
By Renee Sauer
Arizona Daily Star
Nov. 19, 2002
TUCSON - Laura Rundquist's second child was a week old when she felt the marble-size lump in his back.
By the time he was 6 weeks old, Alexander Rundquist had been diagnosed with congenital fibrosarcoma, a rare disease that accounts for 0.5 percent of all cancers diagnosed.
Laura, 29, and husband Jamie, 45, began to pray. "What we asked a lot for was just direction for the right doctors, for the right medicine, for the right knowledge, and we got it," she said.
As faith steered Laura and Jamie in their decisions, it posed a potential conflict with doctors treating Alexander.
The Rundquists are Jehovah's Witnesses, a religion that does not allow blood transfusions. Alexander would need surgery to remove the tumor growing along his spine.
The doctors promised to honor their faith, but if it came down to giving blood or watching the baby die, they would be ethically bound to save his life. That made the Rundquists even more anxious. During the May 15 surgery doctors removed five ribs and the tumor; there had been no need for a blood transfusion.
Three months of chemotherapy followed.
Faith fueled the family's strength, Laura said.
The Rundquists' life has nearly returned to normal. Jevovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays, but the Rundquists are thankful that Alexander on Nov. 7, 2002 made it through his first year. They pray for many more.
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