In August of 2021 Chase started his first year of school, Kindergarten!  What was supposed to be a year full of joy, cultivating friendships, and learning quickly turned into the fight of his life.  On November 2, 2021 Chase woke up with left-sided weakness, left-facial droop, and a general feeling of unwellness.  In the weeks proceeding, Chase had frequent vomiting that Drs attributed to virus.  Chase was immediately taken to the Emergency Department as a Stroke Alert.  Approximately 45 minutes later, my husband and I were told that our son had a very large brain tumor near, and possibly inside, his brain stem.  The immediate prognosis looked grim.  

Before we could even call our families, neurosurgery was in Chase's room preparing him for intubation to place a drain to relieve the severe pressure in his head caused by the tumor blocking the flow of cerebrospinal fluid.  While we sat with the chaplain, Chase was emergently intubated and we never even had a chance to explain to him what was happening.  Less than 24 hours from arriving in the ER, Chase emerged from a 10 hour brain surgery.  We did not know if he would wake up, but he did.  Once awake, we partnered with our Child Life Specialist to help him understand what happened.  We spent the next 11 days at his bedside in the PICU. 

A few weeks later, we received amazing news that his tumor was a Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma WHO Grade 1.  A slow growing tumor with good long-term prognosis.  We then transferred to Children's National in Washington, DC to finalize a plan of attack to remove and / or stop the growth of the remaining 30% of the tumor.  In May 2022 Chase started chemotherapy to shrink the remainder of his tumor.  For 10 months Chase endured 33 chemotherapy treatments, and all the typical complications that typically come with it.  Chase completed his final round of chemotherapy on March 24, 2023.  In addition to relearning to walk, feed himself, and intense physical/occupational therapy, Chase will travel to Children's National every 3 months for routine MRI's to monitor the tumor.