Honored Kid

Jeiro Kian Merculio

Jeiro Kian Merculio Kid Photo

Location

Los Angeles, CA, US

Diagnosis

Brain or spinal cord tumor

Date of Diagnosis

December 2009

Status

Angel

Treated At

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

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My Story

Jeiro was a normal happy child at 3yrs old. He loved to kick the soccer ball in the back yard with his dad. When his sister learned to crawl they played follow the leader. When she was a little bit older and could sit up Jeiro would drive her around in his power wheel truck. But he's favorite pass time of all was watching his favorite movies Cars, Ice age, and Kung fu Panda. But then gradually changes started happening he had a downward gaze, he started stumbling everywhere (like when you first learn to walk) then he couldn't control his bladder or bowel movements anymore. I first took him to his pediatrician but when I started to tell her all the changes we noticed she recommended I take him to the ER. Once there they took an x-ray and what the doctor told us changed our lives. The doctor told us your soon has a brain tumor with hydrocephalus. and that we would have to be Med evac to a hospital who could help him. At the time of diagnosis we were in Okinawa so on Dec 15 09 my son was admitted the next day they had to do minor surgery to place an external shunt to drain the excess fluid that was building up in his brain because of the tumor. Dec 17 they flew us from Okinawa to San Diego (arrived 20 Dec) where they were going to removed the tumor. My son had his surgery on 22 Dec. the next day the doctor told us that they were able to removed as much of the tumor as possible. because if they tried to go back in and get the rest it might do more harm than good. But the bad news was that the tumor looked malignant. I remember saying to the dr. " what you are saying dr my son has cancer" Dr."I'm afraid so, Yes" This is when we found out Jeiro had a very rare stage IV tumor called Pineoblastoma. San Diego recommended radiation treatment but we wanted a second opinion because of the damage radiation can do to a young brain. We were referred to Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) they of chemotherapy so on 5 Jan 2010 we were transferred from San Diego to CHLA. Where he was to have 5 cycles of Chemotherapy 1 round of high dose chemo with stem cell transplant. From the start his treatment didn't go as planned 8 Jan Jeiro for the second time developed Meningitis (1st time new years). End of Jan Jeior had to have an internal shunt placed because there was still to much fluid. In Feb developed seizures on and off for 3 days after that they placed him in a medical induced coma for 3 weeks till they figured out what caused it. (It ended up being an adverse reaction from one of his chemo meds). Which at the end of Feb required another internal shunt because the one was not enough and the seizures did more damage to his brain. Mar and Apr went smoothly in May he had his stem cell transplant. Jun and July was spent in the rehab floor re-learning how to walk, speech, and basically everything. July scanned showed the remaining tumor was gone and we thought he was going to be ok already. July is also Jeiro's birthday so we threw him a small party and invited the entire staff and all the other patients and there families to come and celebrate with us.  He enjoyed it all the nurses sang him a happy birthday.  Aug Jeiro started complaining of headaches again. Scans showed the tumor had returned and brought reinforcements there were not a totally of 5 tumors spread around the brain and spots on the spine. We were devastated, the doctor recommended low dose radiation for 10days. So 10 days of radiation and on Sep 15 2010 after 9months of being in the hospital (he had a day pass here and there) we were finally able to bring Jeiro home. Slowly Jeiro health started deteriorating and we bought him to the Philippines to spend the remaining days of his life surrounded by as much family who loved him.  He passed away on 16 Nov in the hospital. Even after all the countless scans, needles, blood and platelet transfusions, and surgeries, he always had the biggest smile on his face and everytime you would go into his room he would be watching one of he's favorite cartoons and reciting them. It was as if he wasn't sick at all he taught me the real meaning of what strength, and courage really meant. The one thing we wanted was for jeiro to know who we were, to still be able to enjoy his cartoons, and to be as normal as possible. I think till the day he took his last breath we accomplished that.

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