Help with Brooklyn's medical Bills

Hi, My name is Shannon and I am fundraising for my great-niece Brooklyn. Below is her story told by her mom, Megan and her dad, Ben. Any donation you could make to help with mounting medical bills is greatly appreciated.

Brooklyn was born on June 24,2021 at 6:26am. She was absolutely perfect.

At her 8 week appointment, we had asked our nurse practitioner about Brooklyn’s downward left gaze- figuring it was just a new baby thing. Our nurse practitioner also noticed some fullness in her fontanel. She referred us to see the eye doctor and to get a head ultrasound to investigate.

The eye appointment went about as well as it can for an almost 9 week old baby. The same week, she went for her head ultrasound- which Ben and I were most apprehensive for.

The ultrasound tech scanned Brooklyn’s head and told us that she would put a stat read on the test, that way we wouldn’t have to wait through the weekend for results.

After 20 minutes back in the waiting room, our pediatrician called us and informed us that Brooklyn had a brain bleed. We were escorted from radiology to the ER where a CT scan was done and a couple of hours later we were informed that Brooklyn had a softball sized tumor. From there, she was promptly admitted to the PICU.

At 9 weeks and 4 days old, Brooklyn underwent her first surgery where they biopsied the tumor. She spent a few more days in the PICU before being transferred to the general floor where she would spend the next two days before going home. The day after we returned home the pathology of the tumor came back and Brooklyn was diagnosed with an Anaplastic Ependymoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Her surgery was scheduled for the following week.

On Labor Day, after 4 days home, we brought Brooklyn back to the ER due to increased fussiness and a refusal to eat. Another CT was performed showing some growth to the tumor. We decided to name it “Ursula” because it was big, mean, and ugly.

The growth had caused a significant increase in pressure to Brookyln's head and she was subsequently re-admitted to the PICU. Because her irritability didn’t improve, a drain was inserted into Brooklyn’s head to drain excess fluid in hopes that it would alleviate much of the discomfort she was having at the time. Her surgery was moved up to the next day and this would be her 3rd in just a week.

On the day of her operation, we were expecting our team of neurosurgeons to come back and tell us they got some of the tumor, and she would be treated with chemo before the rest could be removed. That was not the case and our surgeon, Dr. Katz, came back to tell us he removed the entire tumor!

Brooklyn has a long road ahead of her, including aggressive chemotherapy treatments to “mop up” anything left behind.

Brooklyn is strong, she is brave, and she is loved.