Dani's Palliative Care and Treatment

At just three years old, Dani's family was given a diagnosis and life expectancy in January 2021. They were told around six months as he has terminal brain cancer, medulloblastoma, type 3. Their full story is below.

Dad is still working and mom is home but they're still in shock and unbelievably they didn't want to fundraise over guilt related to Covid struggles. Like many other families they're struggling as well, and now are forced to choose between time with their baby while he's still on this earth and going to work.

Treatments, medicine, time all unfortunately have a price and I'd like to help them spend family time with their baby to make memories, and take some time to mourn before dad needs to go back to work. Mom needs support as well as his family. 

Anything you can give or share is appreciated. This Edmonton Alberta family needs your support and love in this unimaginably painful time. Let's make is less about money and more about time.

Xoxo 

Stacy

Dani was a healthy happy boy, who rarely got sick. One morning, back in June 2020, Dani started spontaneously vomitting only in the mornings and was fine the rest of the day. This went on for a few days so we decided to visit the ER. The doctors assured us he was fine and sent us home. Dani continued to vomit and was looking "off" to us, so we decided to take him back to the stollery. After numerous tests and a chest xray, the doctors said everything looked fine and they couldnt give us an explanation. We were sent home again. 

The following week Dani kept vomitting and each day more and more. He would randomly fall asleep while playing and was not his energy self. Back to the ER we went, where mom refused to leave until we knew what was happening. This time the doctors listened and did all the tests and a CT.  

The results would change our world forever. They told us Dani had a tumour the size of an "orange" at the back of his head and needed surgery asap. The tumour was pressing up against his brain and that is why he kept vomitting. This was a Wednesday night. They admitted us right away and scheduled the surgery at 7am that Friday. 

The surgeon was able to remove most of the main mass but not all of it. His MRI also showed that the tumour metastasized to the rest of the brain and spine. Pathology confirmed it was Stage 3 Medulloblastoma.  

We spent 4 weeks in the hospital recovering. Due to the surgery, Dani lost his ability to walk and lost the strength to his left side.  

After 4 weeks, he got a wound infection and was back in the OR. A week after,he had his broviac (central line) put in, which required surgery again. 2 days after the line was put in, we started chemotherapy.  

We competed 2 cycles of intense chemo, and were getting ready to head to Calgary for stem cell collecrion, when we noticed Dani acting off again. All he wanted to do was sleep. We asked for neurosurgery to take a look and they requested an MRI. The results were not good. Dani had brain fluid buildup (hydrocephalus) and needed a shunt put it; this meant yet another surgery. 

They also told us that the tumours had spread and his brain and spine were "sugarcoated with tiny masses". The chemo, which consisted of 5 different drugs, didn't do anything. 

We were given 2 choices: Palliative or Radiation, and we chose to fight for Dani and go with Radiation. He completed 6 weeks of Radiation M-F under anesthesia. This meant he would get sedated each day for 6 weeks. Upon completion,the MRI showed no improvement and slight worsening of the disease.  

Dani's oncologists reached out and informed us that proceeding with stem cell transplant would be grueling for Dani and it wouldn't do anything for his tumour. 

We were out of options for Dani, there was nothing else we could do. Dani was given approximately 6 months back in January. 

Thank you for your help for my family

Damir and Dee Delic ❤️