Brayden W.
Alabama
Birth Date - November 3, 2012
Diagnosis - Medulloblastoma
Theme: Favorite Things - Batman, Incredibles, Marshall & Rocky from Paw Patrol, and Chicago Cubs
Due Date: 3/1/19
Brayden's Story
On August 1, 2018 our lives were forever changed. Our baby boy had a headache for 5 days so we took him to Quick-Care. The caring people there advised us that they didn't have the capability to treat him because they couldn't do a CT scan. They sent us to Alabama Children’s Hospital. The hospital did the CT scan, and my heart broke when the doctor came back and said, "Your son has a brain tumor".
On August 6th Brayden was going to have brain surgery, and we didn't know how to accept that. The doctor came to talk to us the day before the surgery. He told me the surgery would be very difficult. He rated it an 8 on the difficulty level because the tumor was so close to all the nerves. He said a lot of kids with this type surgery have problems eating, talking or swallowing after the surgery, but that the chance of anything catastrophic was 1%. I told the doctor that I could handle anything that came as long as my baby was still here.
The surgery was a success, and other than a little weakness on his left side, he was not affected from the surgery. The oncologist came to speak with us and they talked about a clinical trial but we didn't feel comfortable with the treatment that they wanted to do. I called around to different hospitals, but couldn't get anyone to speak with me without paying around $2000 for a 2nd opinion. Then I called St. Jude in Memphis. They talked to me about a clinical trial that they were doing that involved Proton Therapy. They told me to bring him there.
On August 20th we arrived at St Jude and everyone has been amazing. We will be starting proton radiation treatment on September 10th for 6 weeks, then we will go home for 6 weeks and come back for 4 months of chemo.
"We opened the package last night, and it's the most beautiful quilt I've ever seen. He loves it! Thank you so very much. We greatly appreciate everyone's work that went into making his quilt so special."
