Jessica Gutierrez

Jessica's journey started with a simple CT scan back on June 28th. She experienced an unusual headache and decided to have a scan to rule out anything serious. She received a call shortly after the scan and was asked to head up to Waukesha Memorial Hospital for an MRI. The results from the MRI showed a tumor in the left anterior temporal lobe of her brain. We were referred to a neurosurgeon by the name of Dr Michael Jones who requested a more detailed MRI of that specific area of her brain. We met with him on July 5th and was told that the tumor was edging on the area between the anterior and the posterior part of the brain which houses our speech functions. Dr Jones said he was referring us to a neurosurgeon at Froedert Hospital by the name of Dr. Max Krucoff whose expertise is in this area.

Jessica met with Dr. Max Krucoff on July 11th and he recommended surgery. The goal of the surgery is remove all of the tumor without damaging any of her speech functions. To ensure this she was sent for two special MRI's which will be used during the surgery. Theses MRI's were done on Friday, July 14th.

The first MRI is called a Functional MRI which tests her Motor and Language areas of the brain. She was asked a series of questions and performed tasks during the MRI. Her responses lit up the areas in the brain that are responsible for her speech and motor functions. These are the areas Dr. Krucoff will be very careful with during the surgery

The 2nd MRI is called a Stealth MRI. This MRI will be used for navigation during the surgery.

Jessica's surgery is scheduled for Thursday, July 20th at 7:30 am. She will be awake during the surgery to ensure a successful extraction of the tumor without damaging any of her speech functions. The mapping will take around 30 minutes and the surgery will be anywhere between 4 and 6 hours.

Please keep Jessica and her family in your thoughts and prayers during this time.

As everyone knows medical bills can begin to climb quickly, please consider donating to Jess and her family to help take this one burden off of their plates.

We appreciate the love and support that everyone has given to them thus far.

Thank you!