Like most 4-year-olds, Tristin Ross loves his PlayStation, Disney movies and playing outside.

Unlike most kids his age, he's also battling a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma.

The Sharon boy is undergoing stem cell replacement in Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He will be there for three months, according to his mother, Tiffani Hodges.

Tristin became ill Oct. 1, and at first doctors thought he was suffering from constipation, Ms. Hodges said. She said Tristin was having trouble walking because of leg pain and he had a high fever for almost two weeks.

Eleven days later, doctors at Tod Children's Hospital in Youngstown discovered a tumor obstructing Tristin's intestine, Ms. Hodges said. Tristin was suffering from leg pain because the tumor had spread.

"This is a silent cancer," Ms. Hodges said. She said Tristin had just had a checkup in September and was fine.

Dr. Edgardo R. Lob, an oncologist and hematologist with UPMC Horizon, said more than half the children with neuroblastoma are diagnosed before the age of 2. The cancer can occur anywhere where the peripheral nerves come out, he said.

Six months of chemotherapy shrank and calcified the tumor and sent Tristin's cancer into remission, Ms. Hodges said.

Though surgery has been a traditional way to remove tumors in neuroblastoma patients, Lob said there is an increased interest in using high doses of chemotherapy to treat the disease.

"Kids are remarkably plastic. They usually bounce back very well," Lob said of the chemotherapy treatment.

"He's already got too many war wounds," Tristin's mother said. She said he's had a total of six surgeries so far but did not have to undergo surgery to remove the tumor because of the chemotherapy.

"It's relatively rare," Lob said of neuroblastoma. He said prognosis for a patient depends on various factors such as how early the cancer is detected and if the patient has tumor genes that can cause a more "sinister behavior" in the tumor.

Tristin was in the most advanced stage of the cancer when it was detected, Ms. Hodges said. "He beat the odds," she said.

Ms. Hodges said she didn't have health insurance when Tristin first got sick. She said she received a $300,000 hospital bill for Tristin's first 32 days in the hospital. Since then, Ms. Hodges said, she's gotten insurance though she still has to pay for a lot of Tristin's prescription medicines.

Ms. Hodges said she was just about to start a new job when Tristin became ill, and she hasn't been able to work since.

Tristin is going to go to Walt Disney World in Florida through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Make-A-Wish "gives them hope and uplifted spirits," said Bill Ghost, a Make-A-Wish volunteer from Greenville. He said an opportunity to go to Disney World for a child like Tristin can really turn things around.

Ms. Hodges said she's gotten to know many other children and their parents from the area who are also undergoing treatment for various types of cancer.

"I felt like I was by myself," Ms. Hodges said of how she felt when Tristin was first diagnosed. She said now she feels like she has support.

There is an account set up for Tristin at National City Bank for anyone who wishes to make a donation to the family. The account is called the Tristin Ross Benefit Fund.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at
kgarrett@sharonherald.com