Community Corner

Cookie Topp Gets a Parade Home from the Hospital

The 'Green Ribbon' girl, undergoing an extreme cure for an extraordinarily rare cancer never before seen in one her age, was able to talk to a television reporter – and then go home.

Cookie Topp, the 13-year-old bone marrow transplant patient profiled Tuesday in Wauwatosa Patch, is home early from the hospital.

Told Tuesday that it would be at least another week before Cookie would likely be released, her mother, Linda Price Topp was thrilled to get the news – and to see the reaction from the community.

"We are just so happy to have her home," Price Topp said Friday. "There was such a line of people all along Wisconsin Avenue, and all the kids from St. Jude's were out there."

Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Also on Thursday, Price Topp and Cookie's physicians agreed she was well enough to "go on camera" with our media partners at WISN Channel 12.

WISN reporter Portia Young interviewed Cookie and found her in good spirits, and saying that while her recovery has ups and downs, "At the end of the day, it is fine."

Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Read more in Patch's initial report: 16 Blocks of Ribbons Mark Girl's Astonishing Path Home from Hospital

Cookie has a form of cancer called Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma that is rare under any circumstances, but when seen almost always found in men 50 to 60 years old. There was no medical record of it ever having been found in a child.

After administering chemotherapy, Cookie's doctors and family decided to try for the only sure cure – replacing Cookie's immune system through a bone marrow transplant. The most compatible donor – her 14-year-old sister Annie. 

See more from WISN's report: Green Wauwatosa ribbons mark girl's road home from hospital

After the successful transplant in February, friends of the family and Cookie's schoolmates at St. Jude the Apostle began creating an emerald aisle of green ribbons tied to every tree between Children's Hospital and the Topp home in the 7700 block of Mary Ellen Place.

According to the new WISN report, will have to remain there from four to six months while her immune system rebuilds.

_____________________________

You can donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Linda Price Topp's Facebook page or through a dedicated web page on the site of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Linda is planning several fundraising events, beginning with Duffy's Donation Party on April 12 at theZoom Room in Milwaukee, followed by an Art for Cookie event April 24, with details to come.

These web donation sites and local events benefit not the Topp family but the fight against the family of leukemic and lymphomic diseases.

Linda would also like to thank her employer, Marcus Corp., not only for allowing her leave to spend nearly all her time with her daughter but also for its generous support of LLS. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Wauwatosa