ON A MONDAY afternoon in February 2007, Gretchen Holt-Witt took Liam, her 2 ½-year-old son, to his pediatrician because of some new habits—longer naps, pickier eating. After subsequent tests, the doctor called with impossible news: The ultrasound had found a large mass in Liam’s abdomen. After more testing at the hospital, Gretchen learned that her son had neuroblastoma, a ruthless cancer that affects nerve cells.
Liam began three rounds of highdose chemotherapy, then later underwent a 12 ½-hour surgery that left him on a ventilator. He faced more high-dose chemotherapy, multiple rounds of radiation therapy, retinoid therapy, and an antibody therapy so painful that it’s given with an addictive, morphine-like drug. Meanwhile, Gretchen grappled with a startling fact that she discovered the first week Liam was in the hospital: Among…
