Support Charles' Battle Against JPA Brain Cancer

In November, Charles was experiencing extreme pain in his head, weakness, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and couldn’t seem to stay awake long at a time, which was really unusual for him. I had him seen at Dayton Children’s Urgent Care, and they diagnosed him with a “migraines”. After two weeks, the symptoms progressed instead of getting better, so at that time, I took him to Kettering Medical Center and demanded tests be conducted. They conducted an MRI, which showed a large suprasellar mass, and there was nothing the doctors could do at Kettering Hospital, so they immediately rushed us to Dayton Children’s Hospital to undergo more testing. After we were transferred to Dayton Children’s Hospital, they conducted more scans on his brain, including an MRI and a CAT scan. Both tests showed an obstruction behind the tumor. We were then admitted into the hospital and rushed into emergency brain surgery. During his first brain surgery, they placed a shunt in his brain to drain the fluid that was built up behind the tumor to relieve pressure in his head. The pressure was extremely high prior to surgery, causing his heart rate to drop extremely low (around 30 bpm). While having him under for the shunt placement, the doctor also performed a biopsy and sent it to the lab at Dayton Children’s for diagnostic testing. They also sent the biopsy to St. Jude’s Hospital for a second opinion on the diagnosis. Both Dayton Children’s Hospital and St. Jude’s Hospital came up with the same diagnosis: JPA brain cancer, which is a very rare form of brain cancer. On average, about one child is diagnosed with this type of cancer once a year throughout the world. So this is a very rare brain cancer. Because the tumor is located directly on the brain stem and the tumor is very large, surgery is not an option to remove the tumor. Since his diagnosis, he has started undergoing chemotherapy. After his fourth chemo treatment, he began having a lot of the symptoms he was having prior to being diagnosed. I then reached out to his oncologist, and they wanted him rushed back into Dayton Children’s Hospital so they could take a look at him to make sure everything was OK. They performed more scans, and this time the scans showed the shunt they placed four weeks prior had a blockage. The blockage was caused by the chemotherapy breaking down the cancer cells. When the chemotherapy started breaking down the cancer cells, it caused a blockage in his shunt that was placed during his brain surgery. We were then admitted into the hospital again, followed by a second emergency brain surgery. This time, the neurosurgeon had to remove the first shunt that was placed and place a new one so it would relieve the pressure in his head once again and allow the spinal fluid to drain through the new shunt. Due to Charles being admitted into the hospital several times throughout the last few months trying to fight a battle against cancer, I obviously wouldn’t allow him to be in the hospital alone, so this has caused me to miss a lot of work since we have been in the hospital pretty much since the first week of November. I will also be missing a lot of work in the future to be by his side during his chemotherapy and all of his other appointments. In the near future, he will also undergo another brain surgery, which will then cause me to be off work again. It is very hard trying to keep the bills paid since I have had to miss out on a lot of work. But as a mother, I refuse to let him fight this battle alone, so I don’t have a choice but to miss work right now with everything going on. Charles is also not allowed back in school right now because he just had brain surgery and was diagnosed with cancer. The chemotherapy has his immune system very low, so it is harder for him to fight off germs like a normal person would. He cannot be in school around all the kids because there are just too many germs that go around the school, so I also have to homeschool him and try to keep up on his education so he’s not falling behind in school with everything going on. Charles also needs some medical equipment at home to make it comfortable when he is able to be home instead of in the hospital, but unfortunately, a lot of the things he needs are not covered by insurance, like a hospital bed,, a shower chair, and compression pads for his legs to prevent blood clots when he is unable to move out of bed since he is so weak, especially the day of chemo, followed by the next few days. This is just something you can’t plan for, and you would never think something like this would happen to one of your children, but unfortunately, it did. My worst nightmare came to real life Also, even though he has health insurance, not everything is covered by the insurance, so there are things he needs medically that we have to cover out of pocket. It is very difficult to cover these expenses when I haven’t been able to work very much since he first got sick. Not only is he a teenage boy going through different hormone changes, but he now has this battle against cancer, so he has been very emotional. Nothing in this world is worse than watching your child suffer and not being able to do anything whatsoever to make him feel better. I’ve always heard of things like this happening to kids, but never once in a million years would I think my son would be the one diagnosed with a terminal illness. Nothing gets worse than watching your child suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally. When your child asks you, “Why does it have to be me that has cancer?” it’s so hard explaining to him that life’s not fair. He doesn’t deserve to suffer, but we are in a battle, and with God by our side, we are going to win this battle. The devil may try to tear us down, but with God by our side, he is always right there to help us fight the demons as they try to attack us. Tomorrow is never promised. Make sure you love your kids and be there for your kids. You never know when something like this could happen. All of this still feels like a huge nightmare that we are not waking up from, but we have faith. God will heal him, and he will win this battle against cancer. All money raised will go to medical equipment needed, gas to ensure he is able to make it to all of his appointments and treatments , any medical bills not covered by insurance, prescriptions, utility bills at home , and rent to ensure we are able to keep our home so he has a place to go when we are not in the hospital. Please help us during this fight. Anything is appreciated. Please continue to keep Charles in your prayers! We need all the prayers we can get, and there is no dollar amount on prayers. Any donations will help. I understand not everyone can help financially, and that is totally understandable, but I am asking everyone to at least say a prayer for him. Prayers don’t cost a thing, and they are worth more than any dollar amount.

donations can also be made by cashapp at $jessicalynn4294