Saphire’s journey back to wellness

Hi my name is Aaron Reid and I’ve created this fundraiser to help the Mitchell family with the unexpected costs involved in supporting their beautiful daughter, Saphire in her battle with Craniopharyngloma.

Here is the situation:

Over the last couple of years, Saphire has been having headaches and dizziness with semi-regularity and it became much worse in the last 2 months. We took her into Emergency back home on evening of Monday the 10th and the doc on duty ordered a CT scan which was then done on Thursday the 13th. The scan revealed a cyst in her brain right near the pituitary gland about 2cm x 2.5cm which was non-cancerous in appearance but the wheels were in motion to get her to Children's Hospital Vancouver for higher care asap. Cindy flew down on the air ambulance with Saphire on Thursday at about midnight. Emily and myself took the first ferry out of Saltery Bay and met them around 11am on Friday the 14th. Throughout the day on Friday, there was blood work, visits from the Endrocrinology team, the Neurology team, Ophthamology team and an MRI. I can't express enough gratitude for the unique sort of doctors, nurses and staff of every kind that work in this place.

So here is where things are at. We met with the Neurosurgeon last night before bed and he gave us a very detailed, digestible and compassionate breakdown of where things are at with Saphire’s tumor. The $1M name for it is a Craniopharyngioma. He clarified that it is, in fact, classified as a tumor although is has cyst like areas within it. It is benign, non-cancerous and not likely to grow rapidly or spread to other parts of the body. It has grown in the middle of her brain, right in the vicinity of the pituitary gland. There are portions of it that have grown both above and below that main area which add their own difficulties and complications when identifying the right treatment. Ultimately, it is going to be one of two surgical procedures that look like the most likely paths for getting Saphire healthier and relieving the condition that she has been dealing with for quite some time. He was honest with us about the removal. It is next to impossible to remove it entirely due to how it has grown in such a highly delicate area of the brain. The pituitary gland itself is responsible for a host of hormone production and release. The area above, called the hypothalamus and the connective nerves below the pituitary gland called the infundibulum are also partly affected by the tumor and will need to be operated around with extreme care. Over the weekend, Saphire will have a specific type of CT scan to gather more specific information, and the neurology team will continue to consult with the endocrinology team, the ophthalmology team and another neurology team from nearby Vancouver General Hospital. A timeline for when surgery is has not been set, but will likely happen in the next 1-2 weeks.

Anticipated side effects of the surgery, whichever one they choose, is going to be on her hormone production and regulation. This is treatable but it will mean a lifetime of consulting with an endocrinologist and medications. There is a ton still to be determined and timelines for all of this are not certain yet. We will be in Vancouver for the next couple weeks just for starters.

Big, giant, wholehearted thank you to everybody who has reached out and shared all the kindness and love. This girl is beloved by so many and we are certain the care we have gotten and will continue to receive is going to put her in a much healthier place. Aside from the waiting, Saphire is good spirits and we are making the best of a very tough situation.