forward to school after
surgery & chemotherapy
Anthony Triolo, 5, looks
forward to school after
The Triolo family — (l-r) dad Anthony, son Anthony, daughters Sarah and Emily, and mom Maria — marked the end of a stressful year with a vacation at the Give Kids the World Village in Florida.
surgery & chemotherapy
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — In September, 5-year-old Anthony Triolo will start kindergarten at the Clark Mills School. A year ago, that is something his parents were not quite sure would happen.
Anthony Triolo, 5, of Manalapan, is looking forward to starting kindergarten after spending the last year undergoing surgery and other treatments associated with the removal of a cancerous tumor on one of his ribs.
Anthony, who was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his fifth rib, has spent more than a year in and out of hospitals, undergoing surgery and chemotherapy to fight the effects of his disease.
His story was initially told in a News Transcript article on July 9, 2003. Now his family is happy to report that things are looking much better.
Anthony Triolo reported this week that his son has finally completed his scheduled 11 months of chemotherapy treatments. The youngster had CT scans in February that Triolo said are clear.
"He’s feeling great and back to normal," Triolo said. "He did have a hard time walking for awhile during the last six months of treatment, but he’s walking normally now."
The family, which also includes Anthony’s mom, Maria, and his sisters, Emily, 7, and Sarah, 2, recently threw a party to thank the friends and family members who helped them deal with the past year’s experience. They turned their backyard into a playground complete with giant inflatable rides and welcomed 100 adults and 50 children to a "celebration of life" party.
The Triolos are celebrating a life that was, for a while, in danger. Anthony endured treatments that made him ill and caused a number of problems that at times required him to be hospitalized.
When Anthony was diagnosed with his tumor, friends rallied to raise funds to help Anthony’s parents pay for medical costs that were not covered by insurance.
The Friends of Anthony organized a benefit dinner that was held at Basile’s restaurant in Monroe Township on July 17, 2003.
Triolo created an Internet Web site that allowed friends to keep tabs on Anthony’s progress. The site is filled with journal entries that tell Anthony’s story, as well as his parents’ heartache and fears.
"When I think back, as I reread the updates on the Web site [about] the constant hospital visits, the difficulties, staying at the hospital with Anthony for every treatment, I don’t know how we did it," Triolo said.
Triolo said he is fortunate to have a job that allows him to work from a laptop computer. He is a research scientist for Telcordia, Red Bank, and worked while he spent days at the Bristol-Meyers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
Maria, who tended to the two girls at home, tried to visit the hospital every day so the family could eat dinner together.
Anthony’s surgery involved the removal of his fourth rib and half of his fifth rib, where the tumor was attached. The surgery turned out to be less extensive than surgeons initially believed it would have to be, according to Triolo. Anthony then had a wedge placed in the spaces where parts of the ribs were removed. The area was covered with a mesh coating to provide support. The mesh will have to be monitored as Anthony grows.
Instead of thinking about how challenging the last year has been, the Triolos are now looking forward to the future.
Although Anthony will need check-ups and CT scans every three months for the next four years, Anthony and Maria will have a chance to focus their son’s life on other things — going to school, playing with his friends, going to parties and all of the other things that children his age are doing.
The Triolos recently returned from Walt Disney World in Florida from a trip that was a gift from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The Triolos were guests of the Give Kids the World Village, a 51-acre property that operates on corporate donations. The village, which is near Walt Disney World, has movies, train rides, a pool, a fishing lake and a miniature golf course.
Anthony’s parents are looking forward to "just having a little more normal life," according to Maria, one that will most likely include "biting our nails every time he gets a scan." But it will also include a great deal of hope and promise for their son’s future.