Elisabeth Ellis Cancer Fund

On February 2nd 2017, the Ellis family received the phone call every parent dreads. After a routine 15-month check-up and ultrasound on their seemingly 100% healthy child, the pediatrician urgently called informing them, "your daughter has a large biomass in her head and you need to go to the emergency room immediately, I've already made arrangements." Five days, six doctors, and three MRI's later, Elisabeth Lane Ellis was diagnosed with an aggressive Choroid Plexus Carcinoma tumor the size of a tennis ball in the left lobe of her brain and rushed into emergency surgery at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Her case is "extremely rare," only about 100 kids in North America per year are diagnosed with this particular type of cancer, and only 20% of those are aggressive like Elisabeth's. The chances of getting this tumor are about the same as being struck by lightning during a shark attack. This has garnered the attention of the hospital's top medical professionals due to it's aggression, and size. After 8 hours of surgery, only 35% of the tumor was successfully removed by the number one pediatric neurosurgeon in the country, Dr. Kreiger. Elisabeth has now been transferred to Oncology to start an equally aggressive chemotherapy regimen that will require full-time, 24 hour care, at the hospital for nearly 6 months. Fortunately, the doctors, family, and community support for Elisabeth are all as aggressive as the tumor.






Unfortunately, due to her 15 months of age, according to doctors, her unique chemotherapy side effects will likely include significant hearing loss from the chemo-drugs, possible cognitive difficulties later in high school, especially in areas of math, possible eyesight loss, possible leukemia and possible infertility. She most likely will need hearing aids to acquire language, but as her father says "hearing aids and a math tutor is a small price to pay for life!"

The Ellis family and family members have covered much of the expenses personally, but the entirety of the battle will be costly and affect all aspects of their life. Treating Elisabeth's condition and helping her recover will require significant shifts in their employment, transportation, housing, and lifestyle and they are grateful for the support of the community helping them through this.

Any funds not used for the care of Elisabeth Ellis will be donated to Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Michael Hoefflin Foundation. Thank you for your support.