Three-year-old Aaron's fight - Brain surgery

What would you do to save the life of your child? For the Davenport family, the answer is “whatever it takes.” Right now, 3-year-old Aaron needs another brain surgery to increase his opportunity of leading a life free of development stunting seizures.

As a community, we want to help support the Davenport family so they can focus on health and healing, rather than fundraising for this necessary surgery.

Any donations will be greatly appreciated, and we ask that you please keep Aaron and his family in your prayers during this difficult time.

About Aaron

When Aaron was 6 months old, his parents noticed a broken blood vessel in his eye and that his head circumference was larger than his twin sister, Aspen. Aaron was rushed to Randall's children's hospital where he was diagnosed with a rare type of brain cancer.

Doctors recommended an immediate resection of the tumor. During the resection, the surgeon cut the main blood supply to the tumor, which caused Aaron to bleed out 10 times his total blood volume. The resection was halted after 12 hours as Aaron's likelihood of survival was in question.

Once out of surgery, Aaron remained in the ICU on life support where his condition was deemed "minute by minute." Aaron fought to live and was eventually discharged with almost no use of his left side.

Because of the traumatic experience, Aaron’s parents chose to undergo chemotherapy in lieu of another immediate resection to keep cancer at bay.

During that time, the family sought out additional guidance which led them to Seattle Children's Hospital. Aaron underwent another brain tumor resection in 2020 where it is believed that they removed all the cancerous tumor.

Since then, Aaron continues to experience deficits as a result of his initial surgery. He attends occupational, physical and speech therapies weekly. He has struggled to learn to walk and is re-learning to use his left hand. Nothing comes naturally and everything must be taught through therapy, but this hasn’t stopped Aaron!

Seizures started out of nowhere and have aggressively gotten worse. He went from focal seizures only to now having multiple different types of seizures.

Medication isn’t managing the seizures. Aaron is now maxed out on three different anti-convulsive medications and still experiences a dozen seizures a day.

Doctors fear that Aaron’s seizures will get progressively worse, impacting his ability to function normally.

Aaron experiences a dozen seizures daily. The number of seizures he is having impacts the chance that his little brain is developing normally. The family sought out a second opinion and took Aaron to Boston Children’s Hospital, the #1 hospital in the nation for neurological outcomes. At this time, both Seattle and Boston’s medical teams are recommending a hemispherectomy/hemispherotomy, which is a radical approach to seizure management.

A hemispherectomy is a radical surgical procedure where the diseased half of the brain is completely removed, partially removed and fully disconnected or just disconnected from the normal hemisphere.

This is one of the most successful operations at stopping seizures in carefully selected patients. For many children, a hemispherectomy can be a life-saving operation that can allow the child to lead a far more normal life.

We don't know how his upcoming surgery will go or what kind of deficits he may have after the surgery, but we do know that it will be a long road.

As you can imagine, this has been a challenging experience for Aaron’s family- physically, emotionally, and financially.

The cost of this hospitalization alone could be devastating. Aaron’s parents will be losing thousands of dollars in income as they take time off to be with Aaron in Seattle. Mom will be traveling to and from the hospital constantly, while Dad and the littles will be driving back and forth from Bend to Seattle as often as possible.

Your donations will help cover travel, uncovered medical costs, loss of income, and future occupational, speech and other therapies. Not only have Aaron’s three years of surgeries and treatments turned Aaron’s entire world upside down, but overwhelming medical expenses have added an enormous amount of financial stress on the family.

Thank you.

Aaron’s Fight

April 8, 2019

Ashley and Steve welcome beautiful twins, Aspen and Aaron!

September 27, 2019

At just a few months old, baby Aaron was admitted to Randall’s Children’s Hospital due to the discovery of a tumor in his brain. He survived 12 hours of brain surgery. His parents, Ashley and Steve, and twin sister Aspen were by his side. Aaron’s medical team has determined that the tumor was malignant and while surgeons made every effort to remove all of it they were unable to. Aaron has a very aggressive childhood cancer and will be undergoing ongoing extensive treatment that will require the family to remain away from home.

October 6, 2019

We still don’t have confirmation of the type of tumor, but what we do know is that Aaron is a fighter. He continues to prove to everyone that he is strong by overcoming what doctors believe to be insurmountable. He has had some setbacks. He started having seizures and significant swelling. The Davenports are having to take it hour by hour in regard to his progress.

Once Aaron is stable, he will undergo surgery for a permanent shunt. This will require additional recovery time but should be far less traumatic for Aaron than his first surgery. After he heals from the shunt, Aaron will start a series of aggressive Chemo treatments which will require him to be in Portland for significant periods- likely 2-3 weeks per treatment. This chemo series will happen three times before Aaron can be considered for surgery. Aaron will require another series of chemo after he heals from surgery.

We know that another surgery is risky, but If the cancer is what they believe it is, Aaron will require another surgery for any chance at survival and will be required to be on a treatment protocol the rest of his life.

October 12, 2019

Good news! There’s no tumor on his spine or brain stem.

Bad news- We were unable to get an accurate estimate of how much tumor is left because there is still a lot of blood in his brain which impacts the scan. Regardless, the team here at Randall’s is ready with a treatment plan. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!!!

October 18, 2019

3 weeks ago today our lives were forever changed by the news that our son has brain cancer. Through surgery and recovery, Aaron received 9 units of blood. Today we were able to thank the blood bank that provided the children’s hospital with the blood that saved our son’s life. We then paid it forward by donating our own blood. We have a long way to go to make it even, but it was an incredibly emotional thing for us to be able to do.

Thank you Bloodworks Northwest!!

October 24, 2019

It’s been a long couple weeks. Aaron developed a second pocket of fluid (hydrocephalus). Today he underwent surgery to place bilateral shunts. He is out of surgery and a fighter, but he needs prayers for a safe and healthy recovery. Being a parent is the most amazing job in the world, but damn, it’s gut wrenching!!

I stand firm that kids should NEVER get cancer and parents should be able to take pain from their children.

October 31, 2019

Happy Halloween! We are so thankful to be together as a family today. We got to come home from the hospital and it’s been so nice to recharge as a family. We have both returned to work, which we love.

We continue to be strong for our little guy and family. He is showing us every day what real strength and determination looks like.

This is life. This is love.

Go Aaron!!

November 15, 2019

Aaron survived his first week of chemo. He’s an amazing fighter but the chemo definitely caused some nausea and sickness.

Regardless, he blessed us with his Incredible smile today as he finished his last chemo injection.

January 10, 2020

Thank you for giving us time to be with Aaron and cope with how this world can give babies cancer.

After two months of chemo, we are starting the next chapter of our journey- another surgery. This is an incredibly scary journey for us given how difficult Aaron’s first surgery went. We have been consulting with St Judes to see if they would be willing to take Aaron. They won’t take us for treatment but provided another opinion and recommended surgery as the next step.

Steve and I have made the tough decision to go to Seattle Children’s Hospital for this next surgery. Aaron’s cancer is so rare and his tumor is still very large, so he needs a hospital that regularly deals with complex tumor removal.

We need all the help, prayers and good thoughts we can get this next round!

January 16, 2020

We are officially less than a week until Aaron’s surgery. He will have one surgery on Wednesday for the embilization of the tumor and Thursday is the tumor resection surgery. We will be up in Seattle for several weeks.

January 22, 2020

We are told that Aaron is out of surgery. They were unable to embolize the tumor because the remaining blood vessels were too small.

Today’s surgery gave a good blueprint of what the tumor looks like for tomorrow’s nuerosurgery team.

Continued prayers and positive thoughts needed!!!

January 23, 2020

Just spoke to the neurosurgeons. They are done! They think they got all the cancer and his skull is back on!

Long road ahead to recover but he's out and stable!!!

January 25, 2020

Final results are in!!! The doctors believe the resection was a success and Aaron is cancer free!!!!

YAHOOOOO!

January 31, 2020

Aaron is a warrior! He is doing great.