When her 16-month-old son developed bruising around his eye, Madelynn Stine feared he had bumped his head playing with his two big brothers. Rushing to the ER, she never imagined the agonizing path awaiting her family.
Stine arrived with her son, Malakai, at the emergency department in the family’s Philadelphia suburb in June 2025, with doctors insisting the generally cheerful, energetic toddler had sustained a minor facial injury and would recover in time.
But when the bruising soon appeared around his other eye, Stine knew something was wrong. Within seconds of examining Malakai, the family’s pediatrician told Stine to get to the hospital immediately.
For more than a month, as Malakai lay in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), doctors performed a battery of tests, including ultrasounds, a bone marrow biopsy, a head-to-toe MRI and ‘countless other procedures,’ Stine said.
Doctors finally uncovered a massive five-inch tumor in June in the little boy’s adrenal gland, situated in the back of the abdomen underneath the ribcage. They found 18 more tumors throughout his body, including several in his eye sockets, which had cut off blood flow and caused the bruising.
Stine, who works with people with special needs, was delivered the most devastating news a parent can receive. Her son had stage four neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that develops in nerve tissue. He was given a 50 percent chance of survival.
Malakai’s medical team launched into action, developing an aggressive treatment plan that included five rounds of grueling chemotherapy at the prestigious Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Today, after completing his chemotherapy regimen, now-19-month-old Malakai is tumor-free with no traces of cancer in his bone marrow.
Initially, ER doctors in Philadelphia misdiagnosed Malakai’s condition as a minor facial injury. But when bruising appeared around his other eye, his mother knew it was more serious
About 70 percent of neuroblastoma cases begin in the adrenal glands, both of which sit on top of the kidneys, and produce key hormones like norepinephrine, produced in response to stress; aldosterone, which regulates salt and water balance; and androgens, or sex hormones vital for development.
Looking back, Stine realizes that what she considered everyday baby issues were actually warning signs.
She said: ‘The only other symptoms were constipation, and it was two months prior. We didn’t think anything of it, we had no clue other than him being a little fussy.
‘The week before, he had teeth coming in, so we all assumed he had teething pain.’
In a toddler, constipation is a weekly, if not daily, concern. It can be linked to diet, hydration or a simple developmental phase. It is, in nearly all cases, a temporary issue that can be solved with prunes or a bit of apple juice.
What Stine did not know was that a tumor in the adrenal gland can press on the bowels, causing constipation. As it grows, it can cause a deep, aching pain that a toddler cannot localize or describe; they can only express it as general fussiness.
Teething, meanwhile, is a typical scapegoat in pediatrics. It can cause low-grade fever, drooling, gum pain, irritability and sleep disturbances.
Scans revealed a massive, five-inch tumor in Malakai’s adrenal gland. The cancer had not stopped there; it had spread aggressively, with 18 additional tumors found throughout his small body, including clusters within his eye sockets
Malakai’s team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia began an aggressive treatment plan, starting with five rounds of grueling chemotherapy
The five-inch tumor in Malakai’s abdomen had metastasized, spreading 17 other tumors to every part of his body.
Stine said: ‘My heart really just sank. I found it really hard to accept at first. Everyone sees the child cancer commercials, but hearing it [about] your child is completely different.’
Among the first tests Malakai had was a standard ultrasound, which emits high-frequency sound waves that travel through the body tissues and bounce back whenever they hit a boundary between different types of tissues or between normal tissue and a tumor.
Malakai also underwent an MIBG scan, in which doctors inject a radioactive substance into the bloodstream to make neuroblastoma cells glow from the inside, allowing special cameras to see them anywhere in the body.
And he had a bone marrow biopsy that targets the hip bone, a point in the lower back where the bone lies close to the skin. Bone marrow is the soft, spongy factory inside our bones that produces blood cells, including red, white and platelets.
However, in cancer, it can become a haven for malignant cells, which crowd out healthy ones and disrupt this vital process.
This month, a disease evaluation brought miraculous news: Malakai’s bone marrow showed no trace of cancer, and the primary tumor had vanished. ‘All 18 tumors? Gone,’ his mother announced
‘I was convinced something was wrong; the test results weren’t true,’ Stine said. ‘It was a very hard time and an emotional week.’
Malakai completed his fifth round of chemotherapy last month, ‘and the rest of this year will bring critical imaging and surgery to remove his primary tumor,’ his mother said on the family’s GoFundMe page.
Malakai underwent a disease evaluation earlier this month, at which point doctors gave the miraculous news: he has no trace of any cancer cells in his bone marrow. The primary tumor in his adrenal gland was also nowhere to be seen.
‘All 18 tumors? Gone,’ Stine said. ‘He is not “cured” nor done with treatment but this is a huge update in his story.’
Despite the great progress, he faces months of additional intensive treatment, including stem cell transplants, one of the highest-stakes treatments in oncology.
The goal of the transplants is not to attack visible tumors; instead, it is to create a new, cancer-free immune system from the ground up by using massively high doses of chemotherapy to wipe out the old bone marrow, then rescuing the body with an infusion of healthy stem cells.
She now dedicates every moment to his care while juggling the needs of her other two sons.
To make this possible, the entire family has moved in with her parents, allowing her to be with Malakai throughout his treatment. It is a life reimagined around their children’s most urgent needs.
Stine’s experience has forged a message for other parents not to ignore maternal instincts when something seems wrong.
She said: ‘I kept looking back and thinking if there’s something I missed. If you think something is wrong, take your child to the doctors and push for answers, even if they tell you nothing is wrong.
‘There really might be something underlying so really advocate for your child.’