A then-4-month-old baby with an inoperable brain tumor has made a miraculous recovery after being kissed by Pope Francis, according to a CBS-3 Philly report.
Gianna Masciantonio, now 3, had a blood disorder that formed a brain tumor, which was inoperable because it caused lesions on her brain stem, and doctors had predicted she would not live past one year. Instead, the Pope kissed her forehead days after her first birthday, she then began chemotherapy and the cancer has since gone into remission.
"She's doing great," mother Kristen Masciantonio told the CBS-3 news. "She’s going to attend preschool this fall. She's so excited."
Gianna's father considered the recovery nothing short of "amazing."
"Seeing your kid run around and seeing her doing the things she's doing with what they told us from the beginning is amazing," Gianna's father Joey Masciantonio told the station.
Dr. Amish Shah, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is equally blown away.
"She's blown our expectations out of the water in terms of how she's doing," Shah told the station. "She's resilient and she's tough, and instead of taking all this as something to be fearful of, she's really taking this in stride."
Gianna's father is thankful for his daughter's recovery and the efforts at CHOP.
"This place [CHOP] is so special to us in our heart," Joey Masciantonio said. "What they did for Gianna is something for us that no amount of money could ever repay, but we just want to help the kids."
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