Lauren Murphy

When Lauren Murphy was 13, she’d been dancing for as long as she could remember, earning the lead in many community plays and even being invited to perform with the Moscow Ballet – until the day in 2003 when the dizziness, vision problems and nausea she’d had on and off became steadily worse.  Sent by her doctor to the Kimmel Cancer Center at Hopkins after two imaging tests revealed a brain tumor the size of a golf ball, she learned what was stopping her in her tracks: a medulloblastoma, located in the middle of the balance center of the brain.

What’s worse, medulloblastomas are “fairly aggressive tumors that usually make their presence known quite quickly,” says Ken Cohen, clinical director of the Cancer Center’s pediatric neuro-oncology program.  “Though brain tumors are among the most common of childhood cancers, they are still quite rare in the general population, with about 2,500 new diagnoses each year. “For every thousand children who show up at the doctor’s office with symptoms like Lauren’s, only one will have a tumor like this,” explains Cohen.

Fortunately, the Cancer Center has a program devoted solely to the research and management of pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors. It offers a unique collaborative approach to treatment, in which these tumors are managed from the onset by a team of experts, ensuring comprehensive care across all disciplines. New drugs, and old drugs used in new ways, are offering promise in the treatment of childhood brain and spinal tumors. Our experts are at the forefront of these new discoveries, designing new clinical trials and collaborating with other cancer centers in cooperative group studies.

For Lauren, the first step in this new dance was brain surgery to have the tumor removed. After a six-week rest at home, she returned to the Cancer Center for radiation therapy.  Over the course of three months, she came to the Cancer Center daily for 31 radiation treatments, with the last one on Independence Day 2003. Her next challenge would be eight cycles of chemotherapy to clean up any cancer cells hiding in her body.

By the next Independence Day, her chemotherapy was complete.  She continues to see Cohen for follow-up care. At the time, she said, “One year ago, I was like every other girl my age,” she says. “Hair and make-up were all that mattered. I don’t care about that kind of stuff anymore. I realize there are things that are much more important.” 

Her next steps?  She’s planning to replace active therapy with more physical activity: Lauren says she’s going to give soccer a try.  You can help give more young people with cancer the chance to live to try their dreams. Your contribution helps us to keep the Hopkins promise and tradition of excellence in the care of cancer patients and research toward a cure. Join the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in the fight against childhood cancer.

UPDATE on Lauren:
Article featured in "On Target"

One of the first things that went through 13-year-old Lauren Murphy’s mind when she learned she had cancer was “Am I going to die?” Knowing that her cancer was in her brain brought added worries. She wondered, “If I survive, will I be the same person.” After all the brain is the sanctuary for all things that made her uniquely Lauren —her memories, her talents, her likes and dislikes, her dreams for her future, her bubbly and vivacious personality.

A golf ball-sized tumor in the middle of her cerebellum threatened to rob her of it all. When Lauren’s pediatrician found the tumor, her advice to Lauren’s mother Ruth Taylor was to “take her, right now, to Johns Hopkins.”

Pediatric experts at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center performed surgery on Lauren’s brain to remove the tumor and followed up with radiation therapy and chemotherapy to make sure all of the cancer cells had been destroyed. Five years later, Lauren is a college student at Towson University studying public relations and American sign language. She was inspired to study sign language after suffering some hearing loss as result of her cancer treatment. Once a gifted dancer, the tumor that struck the balance center of her brain has caused her to pack away her ballet shoes and pursue other interests.

Among these new interests is advocate for childhood cancer survivors. Because pediatric cancers are rare, they do not receive the attention or funding that adult cancers receive. Testifying before Congress with the Children’s Cause of Cancer Advocacy, Lauren has become a voice for all children suffering from cancer calling
for increased funding for basic research, drug discovery, and ways to prevent and manage the lasting side effects caused by treatment.

Lauren says, “I focus on the positives. There are far more positives. After all, I don’t have cancer anymore.”