Julia's Journey to Conquer Cancer

Hello everyone. My name is Melanie. My grand daughter is the beautiful baby you see in the picture. In February of 2022 Julia started feeling unwell. She couldn't move her head and her little hands and feet began to turn blue. We rushed her to a hospital and began our journey.

We were informed that baby Julia has a tumor 4cm large called Ependymoma. At that time we were unsure whether or not it was benign. Julia had be in surgery on Tuesday, February 15 for 8 hours and was in ICU for 2 days. She was in the hospital for 2 weeks after that. Additionally, poor Julia had COVID. Only one parent was with her at a time. The family had recently gotten over COVID and had used all of their sick time. Julia had 2 rounds of chemo followed by 6 weeks of radiation to her brain. Julia almost had a year of clear scans before she had a recurrence with the cancer spreading to her spine in January of 2023. Julia had surgery to remove the tumors and had 6 weeks of radiation on her lumbar spine. The cancer has now spread back to her brain with 2 new tumors. She will begin chemo at the end of October in attempts to shrink and/or keep the tumors stable. This treatment will continue until a new trial opens with Texas Children's that she is already approved for. It will be an immunotherapy treatment. It is unclear how long she will stay on these treatments since we will have to see how the tumors respond. The ultimate goal will still be to have radiation treatment of the full brain and spine once she is old enough.

Julia's mother took leave from work as a Band Director and ended up resigning from her position to care for her. She now teaches clarinet lessons on a limited part time basis that does get interrupted when Julia needs surgery or additional treatment. We are asking for support for medical bills, parking fees, groceries for the other 3 children at the house and anything else to help. Anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated! Among donations we ask for prayer. Please keep Julia and her family in your prayers!