56 | www.Ups tatePhys i c i ansSC . com | www.Hea l thL i nksUps tate. com A Unique Case: FOREVER IN MANY HEARTS By Denise K. James Rhoda and her husband, Jeff Woodard, both natives of New England, met more than two decades ago and quickly fell in love. Eventually, the couple moved to upstate South Carolina — a place they already knew and cherished — and continued to grow their now-large family. When their daughter, Ava, was born as number eight of 10 children, she was already special, according to her mother. Wise beyond her years, a fiercely loyal friend and sibling and with a naturally happy disposition, everyone loved Ava dearly — and Ava, a true people person, loved them right back. Though no one could have guessed the power of Ava’s life at first, everyone she touched, from family to friends to teachers, will never feel the same after knowing her. Rhoda Woodard recalled all memories with her family with the anticipated fondness of a mother. She and Jeff and the kids — and now grandkids – value spending quality time together, from swimming to traveling to just being together. Though none of that has changed, the Woodards now bear a hole in their family fabric. Ava passed away in late 2021 from a tumor known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG. She was 11 years old. During the summer of 2020, Rhoda noticed her daughter squinting and took her to see the eye doctor. Ava had been diagnosed with pediatric arthritis before that, and, since arthritis can spread to the eyes, everyone wondered whether it was to blame for Ava’s suddenly diminishing sight. But an MRI at Greenville Memorial Hospital, ordered by the eye doctor, showed a mass on Ava’s brain. The family was directed across the street to see a pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Earl Troup, where they received the devastating news that Ava had a DIPG. “I could hardly breathe at that point,” Rhoda shared. “You have this perfect little girl in front of your eyes, and they say have just nine to 12 months more with her, even with radiation. My husband found me on the floor of the closet, praying, asking God if I could just be a more perfect person, would He let me keep her?” The family soldiered forward, Ava included. Arrangements were made for clinical trials, though they were not guaranteed to help. Through the Facebook group Ava’s Army, which the family created after the diagnosis, Rhoda and Jeff discovered something called a CED trial, consisting of a catheter placed on the brain stem to pump chemotherapy directly to the brain. This was following the 32 rounds of radiation therapy that Ava had already endured, shrinking the tumor 70% and giving the family cautious hope. “We knew the CED wasn’t a cure, but we thought it might buy even more time,” Rhoda said. They headed to New York Presbyterian Hospital, prepared to stay a while, which they did, for three weeks. After that, another trial was on the docket, this one in Atlanta. Known as the ONC2o1, the process involves administering an oral drug to cancer patients which would “kill cancer cells but not normal cells,” according to the U.S. Library of Medicine. THE AVA WOODARD STORY
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