Mallory's Miracles
Donation protected
This is 5 year old Mallory. She was recently diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer. Mallory, her Mommy and her Daddy are very dear friends of ours; Lynette, Christina, and Crystal. We wanted to help our friends and maybe take a portion of their burden away. All of us being nurses, we know the best place for Mallory's Mommy and Daddy are by her side; not having to go to work or worry about money. One less form of stress placed upon them would mean the world to them. Ron and Jen (Mallory's Mommy and Daddy) were reluctant to allow us to start this page; they are very humble people who don't want to cause stress on others. Ron and Jen are the most generous and kindest of souls. Both are registered nurses and have committed their lives to taking care of others. It is now time that we help take care of them. Below is the story on how Mallory's diagnosis came about:
On Monday October 12th Mallory's Mommy and Daddy took her to Children's ER in Pittsburgh after a kind of vague 3 week long illness. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor on MRI. They immediately took her from her Mommy and Daddy and placed a ventricular drain in her head, intubated her and scheduled her for surgery. On Tuesday morning she had a 7 hour long tumor resection. Unfortunately the tumor was very large (the size of a lemon) and they just found out it was malignant. The type of tumor she has is called an ependymoma. She has the worst type of that kind of tumor however it is not the worst type of malignancy to have. The best treatment for this malignancy is total resection and the neurosurgeon achieved total resection however there are always those little things that can still be floating around in there so they are looking at 6 weeks of 5 days a week radiation to make sure they zap any bad cells that could potentially be left behind. The survival rate for her type of tumor/malignancy is 75%. There are only 150 children a year in the US diagnosed with this type of tumor. Mallory is currently at post-op day 4 and days 3-5 are the most critical. When they woke Mallory up in the OR immediately after resection she was able to move everything and even gave them the thumbs up sign. Her neurological status continues to be unremarkable when she wakes up. She even made one of the nurses put a princess crown on her head the other day. The tumor was so large that it was pressing on her brain stem and the neurosurgeon was afraid that she would temporarily lose the ability to swallow and breath requiring a feeding tube and a trach however, so far that is not the case. Had Mallory had this type of surgery at another facility they would have trached her and placed a feeding tube in before they even resected the tumor. They gave her a chance at Children's and she continues to amaze everyone. They have a long road ahead of them however the oncologist is very optimistic for a full recovery. Everyone's support and prayers is what's getting them through this very difficult time. Mallory, her Mommy, and her Daddy thank you all so much from the bottom of their hearts and please continue to remember them in your prayers because they need it.
On Monday October 12th Mallory's Mommy and Daddy took her to Children's ER in Pittsburgh after a kind of vague 3 week long illness. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor on MRI. They immediately took her from her Mommy and Daddy and placed a ventricular drain in her head, intubated her and scheduled her for surgery. On Tuesday morning she had a 7 hour long tumor resection. Unfortunately the tumor was very large (the size of a lemon) and they just found out it was malignant. The type of tumor she has is called an ependymoma. She has the worst type of that kind of tumor however it is not the worst type of malignancy to have. The best treatment for this malignancy is total resection and the neurosurgeon achieved total resection however there are always those little things that can still be floating around in there so they are looking at 6 weeks of 5 days a week radiation to make sure they zap any bad cells that could potentially be left behind. The survival rate for her type of tumor/malignancy is 75%. There are only 150 children a year in the US diagnosed with this type of tumor. Mallory is currently at post-op day 4 and days 3-5 are the most critical. When they woke Mallory up in the OR immediately after resection she was able to move everything and even gave them the thumbs up sign. Her neurological status continues to be unremarkable when she wakes up. She even made one of the nurses put a princess crown on her head the other day. The tumor was so large that it was pressing on her brain stem and the neurosurgeon was afraid that she would temporarily lose the ability to swallow and breath requiring a feeding tube and a trach however, so far that is not the case. Had Mallory had this type of surgery at another facility they would have trached her and placed a feeding tube in before they even resected the tumor. They gave her a chance at Children's and she continues to amaze everyone. They have a long road ahead of them however the oncologist is very optimistic for a full recovery. Everyone's support and prayers is what's getting them through this very difficult time. Mallory, her Mommy, and her Daddy thank you all so much from the bottom of their hearts and please continue to remember them in your prayers because they need it.
Organizer
Lynette Judy
Organizer
Belle Vernon, PA