He’s strong. He’s brave. He’s Liam and this is his story… Liam was diagnosed with a tumor in his medulla when he was just 10 months old. It was discovered incidentally due to a mis-measurement at his pediatrician’s office, where his head appeared to have grown too fast. He also had, what we know now, was a simple lazy eye. The combination of the head growth and lazy eye lead us to our first MRI and the discovery of his brain tumor on May 20, 2013. Be inspired. See Liam’s video & more images…
The medulla is the part of the brain stem that controlls vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and swallowing. Due to the dangerous location, we were initally told it was inoperable. We had MRI’s every 3 months to make sure the tumor was not growing and, initially, it did not grow. However, in December we got the news that the tumor had increased in size, noticably. We were referred out from our usual caregivers at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth, to a brain surgeon in Memphis Tennessee. He was willing to try and resect the tumor. We had high hopes for removal, however, during the surgery, only enough of the tumor was able to be removed for a biopsy due to the location of nerves in the tumor.
The tumor biopsy shows that Liam has a non-cancerous tumor called a Pilocytic Astrocytoma. Normally, these are easy to remove and don’t come back, However, Liam’s can’t be removed due to it’s location it can cause significant problems so he was started on chemotherapy to hopefully stop the growth of the tumor. He will have chemotherapy at Cook Children’s nearly every week for the next 12 to 14 months and will undergo an MRI every 3 months to be sure the tumor is not growing.
He is a sweet, outgoing little boy who loves to laugh and play. He is obsessed with motorcycles, cars, and airplanes. He talks all the time. He is a completely normal, wildly active toddler who doesn’t let anything slow him down… not even a brain tumor. You can continue to follow Liam’s journey through his Facebook page here and you can share this post using the social media buttons below to help bring awareness to his story.
Cook Children’s embraces an inspiring promise to improve the health of every child in its region through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury. Their status as a not-for-profit organization allows them the freedom to focus on providing exceptional care, instead of improving the bottom line. As DFW grows, so does the need for quality pediatric health care. Learn more about how you can help Cook Children’s in fulfilling their promise through a variety of giving and volunteer opportunities.
Many thanks to Liam and his parent’s for sharing their story and to all of the supporters who have made these donated Love Capture Give ® sessions possible by purchasing sessions through Tressavent Photography.
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