The Acreage Cancer Study

My daughter Jessica was diagnosed after almost 2 years of being treated for headaches,sleepless nights and vomiting. We had been to eye doctors for headaches , pediatricians and nurse practitioners and therapist medicated and treated her for all her complaints. Most said it was anxiety or stress. She began walking with a limp after she signed up for flag football and had an exray thinking she had a broken bone in her foot.

Almost a year later  as I picked her up from school she was having double vision. Luckily we decided to have her first MRI pushed for that day. Our simple life would never be the same again. We left the hospital and received a call from a neurologist who told us to return to the hospital as he needed to admit her to ICU due to a brain tumor the size of an orange. Four days later she was thankfully sent to Miami Children's hospital where the tumor a Pilocytic Astrocytoma was removed by Dr. John Ragheb. Jessica's recovery was amazing. 1 month later no vomiting, headaches slowly went away. It has been more of a struggle to try to fit back into her social groups than to remove the brain tumor.

She was  11 and a half when diagnosed. We return to Miami Children's Hospital every year for our MRI. We were told this type of tumor when completely removed is less likely to return. The longer you go without recurrence the better your odd. Its has been almost 5 years. This past November we were informed of a new cyst only millimeters in size in a new area, the pineal gland.

Our goal in sharing this private and personal story is to prevent others from joining our watch and wait club!  We were told by a our Neurosurgeon at a Miami Brain Institute/Miami Children's Hospital that Brain tumors are rare but as a parent you loose sleep from the moment you learn your child is sick and you try to make sense of why us why our child now I am asking why our neighbors, why our community. We love our community and moved here for the open space and tranquility. To think that somewhere you live and call home could possibly be making a family member sick is overwhelming

and heartbreaking to think that there are so many of us. This study must be done and we must all support it so that we can all sleep at night.

Please be aware of these symptoms

Vomiting (mostly in morning)

abnormal eye movement

limping or favoring a limb

headaches

dizziness