Micah Creed: Diagnosed just in time

Micah Creed looks a lot like any typical blond-haired, blue-eyed little boy playing with cars. All except for the fresh scar running across the top left side of his head.

Micah's doctor in Wolfe City, Texas, had decided to send Micah and his family to Children's because she couldn't figure out why the 2-year-old often seemed tired, frequently vomited and had become more aggressive.

After some intensive research and detective work — the kind of work that's possible when you have the resources of a major pediatric hospital and a first-class medical school like UT Southwestern at your disposal — doctors diagnosed Micah with Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor, or ATRT, an extremely rare form of brain and spinal cord cancer. Only about 30 children in the United States are diagnosed with ATRT each year.

With a good diagnosis to work from, the team of specialists at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders was able to treat Micah with brain surgery and a new, aggressive regimen of chemotherapy and radiation. That was last fall.

Today Micah's ATRT is in remission, despite some continuing seizures. "Knock on my hard head, he has no signs of the tumor," said his grandmother, Jody Creed.

Micah was very lucky to be diagnosed when he was. The survival of children with ATRT is typically measured in weeks. Dr. Daniel Bowers, a neuro-oncologist who was the first physician at Children's to use aggressive chemotherapy to treat ATRT, remembers having to tell parents to take their child home and keep them comfortable. "There were no other alternatives," he said.

Today, children with ATRT have a greater than 50 percent chance for survival — an amazing improvement for a condition so seldom seen. Micah's journey isn't over, but he is a testament to the possibilities and potential that exists at Children's, even for the rarest conditions.