A family’s nightmare

This story was submitted by Philip's aunt, Anna D'Amaro
Our family’s worst nightmare began on July 4, 2009 when Philip Califano was 5 years old and, just like any other schoolboy; he was playing and enjoying life — until that day. We rushed Philip to Winthrop Hospital because he was drooling, not talking right and couldn’t walk. Philip was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem tumor. We were in shock.
We immediately sent up appointments with pediatric oncologists and opted to travel to St. Jude’s in Memphis, where Philip underwent 30 sessions of radiation and was started in a clinical trial with Vandetanib. Dr. Baker told us he had seen only two cases like this — and one happened to be my nephew.
The tumor Philip has is very slow growing. Philip is a brave little guy, even though he was never put under for radiation sessions. As a game, he made believe aliens were attacking him. He is a trooper!
On Jan. 5, 2011, we were told that treatment was no longer working and they sent us home, saying that Phillip had about four months. This was unacceptable to our family, and we continued to send Philip’s scans and MRI’s to numerous hospitals throughout the country, only to get the same response that there are no other treatments to save Philip.
There was an alternative treatment specialist in Houston, Texas Dr. Stan Burzynski, who had been having success with antineoplaston therapy. Unfortunately, this treatment is not cover by insurance, and the only insurance Philip has is Medicaid. We had exhausted most of the funds flying back and forth to St. Jude in Memphis. At the time Philip was diagnosed, he had a baby brother, Dominick, then three months old, and their parents had to stop working.