

WylieRae and the Henson family Journey
On September 6th of 2019, WylieRae Henson was diagnosed with cancer at just six month of age. The Henson’s later found out that the exact diagnosis was SHH MBEN (sonic the hedgehog medulloblastoma with enhanced nodularity). Within three days, Wylie went through two surgeries. The first was emergency surgery to relieve the pressure in her head, and the second was to place a permanent shunt as well as perform a biopsy. The tumor was inoperable.
For the next year, Wylie underwent ten rounds of chemotherapy and two more surgeries. The chemo was rough and she had hospital stays including one to the PICU almost every cycle. Through it all, she endured. In April 2020, her tumor had shrunk to the point that it was finally operable. They were on the downhill slide. On September 2020, Wylie was able to finish chemotherapy and had a disease-free MRI. From here on out, WylieRae would be getting follow-up scans for the rest of her life to make sure the cancer was still at bay.
January 2021, on her first post-chemotherapy scan, a small tumor was found in a different location on her cerebellum. She had another surgery performed at LeBonheur, in Memphis. It was discovered that not all of the tumor was removed. She now faced another battle through chemotherapy and more surgery.
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In the first fight, the Henson’s were somewhat fortunate to be mostly at home and together. This time, things changed. Amanda and Nic were apart from one another so that Wylie could get most of her treatment at St. Jude in Memphis. Nic stayed with Wylie in Memphis while Amanda flew back and forth when she could. Although Amanda wanted to be with Nic and Wylie, she did what her family needed her to do and stayed home to work. Another unfortunate circumstance that kept them apart were Covid precautions at that time that limited the number of family members to one on St. Jude campus and housing.
On February 8th, 2021 She started chemotherapy again. They battled many months and many rounds of chemotherapy. Near the end of September 2021, Wylie completed chemotherapy and had another disease-free MRI.
January 20th, Wylie had her first post chemotherapy MRI. Her cancer was back in the same spot as last January. Wylie will now need to undergo radiation treatment. Amanda and Nic are now renting a place in Memphis near St. Jude where Nic is staying with WylieRae. Amanda is going to fly to and fro while continuing to working in their home town.
On the 22nd of February Wylie’s treatment started yet again. It will be 20 days of brain and spine radiation, then a dry run for brain only, and rounding out with 10 of brain only. That will put her last dose on April 4th. Hopefully the Henson’s will be able to go home sometime between April 5th and 8th. Four to six weeks later WylieRae will go for an MRI which will tell them how well the treatment worked.



