June L.
Tennessee
Birth Date: June 16, 2016
Diagnosis: Choroid Plexus
Carcinoma
June's Story
June had always been full of life, sassy and was the funniest 3-year-old I have ever met. Then in September 2019 we noticed she was starting to have trouble walking and keeping her balance. Visits to a pediatrician and specialist resulted in June being diagnosed with a gross motor delay, which led to her getting a leg brace and starting physical therapy. Neither seemed to help. It got to the point where we had to hold her hand to keep her from falling over. She also developed a lazy eye, and her eyes started to cross.
In January we took June back to the pediatrician, who referred an optometrist for glasses. But again, nothing seemed to get resolved with June's health and soon after, she started complaining of a headache for the very first time. My husband and I just felt something was wrong, so he took her to the ER at our local children's hospital. They did a CT scan and found two tumors in her brain — one on her brainstem, which was causing all of her issues, and one towards the top of her brain. June was immediately admitted to the pediatric ICU at East Tennessee Children's Hospital, where she underwent a full-body MRI and we learned there were four more tumors in her brain and on her spine.
On March 3rd, doctors delivered the brain cancer diagnosis of Choroid Plexus Carcinoma — one that has proved to be terminal in the past. Since then June has undergone two tumor removal surgeries and been through four unsuccessful cycles of chemotherapy. She recently started another cycle using different medicine to see if it will work. For now the tumors have stopped growing and spreading.
Despite June's health battle, she has been so strong through all of this and tougher than any adult I have ever met. She knows she has cancer and tells us all the time, 'I have cancer,' but she doesn't understand what it actually means. Sadly, she is used to all of this now — all the chemo, hospital stays, clinic appointments, it's her new normal.
