Before September of 2009, cancer was something that happened to other people, not to us…and certainly not to our beautiful little girl. It was just a couple months after Ava’s second birthday that her tumor was discovered; a plum-size mass in the back of her head detected by a CT scan. It was a discovery that instantly changed our lives and the lives everyone who has traveled this road alongside us. Pathology confirmed it was cancer; medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain tumor. In children older than Ava, the cure rate is very high, but because of her age at diagnosis, Ava was considered high risk of relapse.
After diagnosis, Ava endured four surgeries, six rounds of in-patient chemotherapy, including three high-dose rounds, 30 straight weekdays of proton beam radiation, and a 12-cycle clinical trial.
It’s now more than four years since Ava’s tumor was discovered and she’s had only clean scans since. She’s a happy and HEALTHY 6-year-old girl, active and smart and a blessing we get to witness every day.
Our little girl is our hero.
We are thankful for all of the doctors and nurses we’ve crossed paths with in this journey and to the Dr. Marnie Rose Foundation for everything they do to fund brain cancer research and children’s programs at Memorial Hermann.