Childhood Brain Tumors: A.J. Peterson & Kadeen Alansari

I don’t know if I have selective vision or there are more kids with brain tumors, but here are two recent, upsetting stories of kids with brain tumors. 

A.G. Peterson

 

The headline for this first story about A.G. Peterson says “7-year-old son of former Bear dies after battle with cancer” - http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/sports/ct-lns-fundraiser-for-old-bears-player-st-0218-20150216-7-story.html
 

The article talks about a fund raiser “…to help defray the medical bills for AJ, who was diagnosed last June with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a brainstem tumor that occurs almost exclusively in children.” 

I found the well-written article by reporter Brian Bonato to be particularly disheartening when I learned that “AJ was diagnosed in June. Occurrences are rare, with roughly 200-300 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year. According to the National Cancer Institute, the median survival rate for children diagnosed with a DIPG is less than one year.

The nature of DIPGs makes surgical removal impossible, and there are virtually no prospects for long-term survival.”

Kadeen Alansari

 

This story, by Community Contributor Bill Smith, Harper College Hawks Sports Information, tells about The Harper College men's basketball team partnered with Friends of Jaclyn Foundation once again to welcome seven-year-old Kadeen Alansari as an honorary team member for the second straight year: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/arlington-heights/community/chi-ugc-article-mens-basketball-welcomes-kadeen-alansari-to-2015-02-17-story.html

They do this because Kadeen suffers from a nasty brain tumor known as Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma.

The reactions of the team were telling, e.g. "He meant the world to me. He had joy and energy, and he just inspired me," said freshman point guard Marcus Gatlin (Chicago, Ill./Curie), who scored a career-best 16 points in the game. "I broke down. Some people take life for granted, and he's not doing that."

If these stories bother you, and they should, please consider donating to the CERN Foundation – http://cern-foundation.org/ - or the American Brain Tumor Association – http://www.abta.org/ - so we can start doing a better job of saving young, defenseless children from these unrelenting, horrible diseases.

Buy a Butterfly, Help a Kid

I hate Ependymoma and I love the CERN Foundation: http://cern-foundation.org/

 

Ependymoma is a rare type of primary brain or spinal cord tumor. Primary tumors are those that start in either the brain or spine. It is more common in children than adults (ugh) and is the third most common pediatric brain tumor, which to my way of thinking, is horrific: here’s a brain tumor that specializes in whacking young, innocent children.

Luckily the good folks at the CERN Foundation are doing everything they can to help patients and caregivers fight this relentless, wicked disease.

To better understand how horrible Ependymoma is, I started reading the “CERN Inspiration” stories on their website: https://cern-foundation.org/?page_id=256

I read a about Hanna - “I am nineteen years old. I will be twenty years old in a week. Ironically enough, on April 1, 1997 (April Fools Day), when I was just four years of age, I had a grand mal seizure in bed.” I am trying to imagine what she felt or her parents’ felt and even though I’m neither, I just feel sick.

But wait, it gets worse.  Alexa and her parents learned about a “Large mass” on her brain two weeks before her third birthday. She went on to have eight (8) more brain tumors.

Shelby was age 1 when she was diagnosed with Grade III Ependymoma. Read her entire story but I’ve copied this paragraph about her early diagnosis because as I read it I felt like I got kicked in the stomach. “When we arrived at the children’s hospital they immediately conducted an MRI. Once the images came back, we met with the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology team as well as a surgeon. The consensus was that surgery must be performed to remove the tumor, as it was wrapped around her basil artery, slowly suffocating her brain.”

There’s more stories: some have happy-ish endings, some don’t have happy endings.

You Can Help: Buy a Butterfly for Ependymoma Awareness Day

I love Butterflies as a symbol for Ependymoma victims. I love it because butterflies embody both the beauty and the fragility of each victim.  Each butterfly you buy raises money for important research into solutions for this stupid disease. On May 5^th – the CERN Foundation will have a mass release of all the butterflies bought to help wipe out Ependymoma. My wish is that we buy so many butterflies that they blot out the sun and help stamp out Ependymoma.

I’ve bought my butterfly. You can buy your butterfly here: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=f10f74   

My 6 Most Popular Brain Tumor Blog Posts

I often check my blog hits to see which subjects are resonating with followers. It tells me what brain-tumor related issues folks do, and don’t, want to read about. I don’t think, though, that you can do this. So, here is a listing of my top six most popular blog posts in case you missed them.

“Asparagus & Cancer” – While I wrote about the possible cancer-fighting benefits of asparagus (yes, asparagus!), this post also talks a bit about attending my first Chi Gong class:http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2012/08/asparagus-cancer.html

“Chia Seeds & Cancer” – This post was links to a “… surprisingly upbeat posting on the American Brain Tumor Association’s Inspire blog” about the benefits of Chia seeds which, of course, I still haven’t bought (mostly because they’re really expensive) - http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2013/10/chia-seeds-cancer.html

“Brain Tumors and U.S.A. Social Security Disability Benefits” – If you aren’t a US citizen, this guest posting about how to apply for social security benefits may not be so interesting, or it might make you glad that you don’t have to navigate the US medical system: http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2013/05/brain-tumors-and-usa-social-security.html

“Drinking Cocoa = Healthy Brains” – Here’s another post about something we can all do to improve our cognitive abilities. I am convinced that this speaks to the yearning that all brain tumor victims have to do something (anything!) to fight their despicable disease: http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2013/08/drinking-cocoa-healthy-brains.html

“Latest Brain Surgery Celebrity: Mumford & Sons bassist Ted Dwane” – I suspect this posting is popular because it puts a human face (or a name or a band) on brain surgery: http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2013/06/latest-brain-surgery-celebrity-mumford.html

“Dental X-rays: Possible Cause of Meningioma” – I’ve included this posting because it gets at the heart of this mysterious question that so many of us victims are wrestling with: “Why Me?” What did I do to deserve this horrible, relententless, unforgiving and terrifying thing wreaking havoc in my brain? If you’re a meningioma victim, it just might be that your dentist was the culprit:http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2012/04/dental-x-rays-possible-cause-of.html