Help Jaxon Fight Brain Cancer

On April 6th, 2022, the Curiel lives were turned upside down. What they thought was just a routine MRI to give them peace of mind about their son Jaxon’s right-hand tremor, turned into a diagnosis of brain cancer. Jaxon is a 5-year-old happy, fun loving, God loving, family loving, IPAD loving, energetic little boy who loves life. He is active in his TK class at McGaugh Elementary, practices jujitsu, plays baseball, break dances, snowboards, and loves to ride bikes and play with friends.

 

This brave boy breezed through the MRI without requiring sedation. However, halfway through the exam, the doctor wanted to start an IV and add contrast to the study. Melissa’s heart sank because she knew this meant they had found something and needed to take a closer look.

 

After the MRI, Jaxon was directly admitted to the PICU at Miller Children’s Hospital. As the day went on, the news got worse and worse. Initially, it was a solitary lesion on the left side of the thalamus near the brainstem and looked “low grade”. Later, the images were viewed by a neuro-radiologist who saw that the lesion infiltrated into surrounding structures and wrote that it looked high grade in her report. The last doctor to see them that day was the neurosurgeon. He confirmed that this was an inoperable tumor. Their hearts broke into a million pieces and they felt completely defeated.

 

Two days later, Jaxon underwent a stereotactic brain biopsy. The surgeon was able to remove a few samples of the tumor so the pathologist could determine the cancer type. They were discharged from the hospital the next day and so happy to be home. After a good 24 hours of sleep at his house, Jaxon was back to his happy fun-loving self. He returned to school the following Tuesday and they all resumed their normal day to day activities while anxiously awaiting pathology results.

 

Initial pathology report from Miller Children’s showed a slow growing cancer called a low grade glioma. They were told this typically is treated with a year of chemotherapy and might respond very well to treatment. The tissue was then sent to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee for further molecular testing.

 

On April 28th while enjoying a day at Disneyland, they received a call from the Brain Tumor Coordinator from St. Jude’s. Melissa had been in close communication with her for the last couple weeks and knew she was calling to give the final results and recommendations from the St. Jude’s physicians. By looking at the tissue’s molecular and DNA structure, they confirmed that Jaxon’s brain tumor was actually a glioblastoma, which is high grade and fast spreading. Once again, their hearts broke into a million pieces. They asked, “What do we need to do to fight this,” and she said “first line treatment is radiation therapy.” She quickly offered the opportunity for them to take Jaxon to St. Jude’s to receive proton radiation therapy and they graciously accepted. Today they will fly to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee in hopes of getting the best treatment for their sweet boy. They have hope and faith that God and medicine will heal him.

 

Their entire focus right now is to be with Jaxon. They will both be taking time off work to be with him throughout his journey. This go fund me has been set up for friends and family who would like to alleviate the financial stress that comes along with a cancer diagnosis. Thank you in advance to everyone who is able and willing to donate to help this brave boy beat his brain cancer!!

With Love & Prayers,

Denise Ruiz & Caroline Yrulegui