I'm shaving my head to raise money for childhood cancer research! 

This year has touched us close to home.

On Thursday, October 22, 2015, Colin (my nephew) got up to go to school like any other day, but shortly after arriving at school he went to the nurses office being sick to his stomach and complaining of a headache. He was sent home, where most people including me would have just sent him to bed to rest and drink lots of liquids. His dad knew there was something more going on because Colin NEVER complains of anything. They went to the dr, the drs office sent them to the ER for further testing and the ER was going to send him home, but by some luck of an angel they decided to do a CT Scan where they found a tumor on his brain. Being shocked was an understatement. They immediately transferred him to Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago where a team of specialists were waiting for him. He underwent a 6 hour surgery on Friday October 23, 2015. They removed a tumor which was 3 golf ball sizes smashed together. We were all in disbelief and asking how could this happen. From that point it began a waiting game with constant questions; Recovery time? Long Term/Short Term Side Effects? Did they get it all? and let’s not forget the biggest question CANCER? Every day was like a puzzle with pieces trying to find their place to make Colin complete again. On Thursday October 29th we got the final report of the tumor being BENIGN!  

The name of the tumor was Ganglioglioma. 

We have all rejoiced and those puzzle pieces are slowly fitting together much easier now. Colin progressed tremendously and was released from the hospital on November 6th. He spent the next few weeks in outpatient therapy at RIC. He then started tutoring along with the therapy. Colin is now back at school full-time and doing excellent. We continue to be thankful and blessed.