Maelynn Gerdsen's favorite TikTok video is the one her mother filmed on Maelynn's last day of her chemotherapy.
Maelynn Gerdsen's favorite TikTok video is the one her mother filmed on Maelynn's last day of her chemotherapy., the 8-year-old girl and her parents bop to the beat of “Title” by Meaghan Trainor. As they dance, they put the grueling treatments behind them with a celebratory kiss goodbye.
Doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital opted for an aggressive approach to treating Mae’s cancer, which was found in her jaw. She underwent 43 weeks of chemotherapy, and halfway through, six weeks of daily radiation treatments were added to her regimen. The treatment was successful, and Mae has now been in remission for more than six months.
What is clear, though, is the effect the TikTok had for Mae and her mother. It connected them to other families living with rhabdomyosarcoma. Mae was able to meet a friend who had already been through radiation and assured her that it didn’t hurt. Mae had a biopsy in February 2021, about 10 days before the freeze that caused a power crisis across Texas. With everything shut down, Howell received the results by phone instead of in person.She knew it would be difficult to care for Mae on her own so she reached out to her ex-husband, who was living in San Antonio. They decided he would move in with them to help care for Mae.Mae’s treatment was difficult.
“That is just, to me, the visual representation of 43 weeks of treatment,” Howell said. “It blew my mind. She blows my mind.”at KEG's Icehouse in Houston, which raised $20,000 for Mae's treatment. She was struck by how comfortable Mae was discussing her cancer.