Weston B.

Hi, my name is Roy Foley, neighbor to 10-year-old Weston and his family. Weston was recently diagnosed with a tumor on his eye causing his retina to be detached. As a result of the tumor, they had to remove tumor and also Weston's eye in Iowa City. There will be several more trips back and forth to Iowa City for appointments and also to have a professionally fitted custom made Ocular Prosthetic.

Because they will have several trips to and from Iowa City for several more tests, follow-up, and eventually the prosthetic, I have set up this fundraiser to help Weston and his family with all the expenses tied to his medical and travel. Thanks!

Here is the story from the Barcus family:

The Barcus Family made up of Dad (Tyler), Mom (Becky) Weston (10 years old), and Hayden (8 years old) are fairly new in the Madison County, lowa area, having recently decided that Des Moines is not quite the place they wanted to raise 2 boys.

Both Tyler and Becky wanted to raise their boys in that same small-town upbringing they both had growing up and thought the country would be perfect for their family. After searching for several months, they found their dream home in Peru, lA and had even signed the papers on their 11th wedding anniversary, just this past June 30th.

Four months later their oldest son, Weston, came to them and said he could not see out of his left eye, Becky immediately called lnternational Eye Care in Winterset, and Dr. Abby Thomas got Weston in right away for an appointment. She had done some testing and noticed Weston had a detached retina in his left eye, and then immediately got on the phone and got an appointment at Wolfe Eye Clinic in Pleasant Hill.

After the doctor at Wolfe Eye Clinic had done some testing, he noticed a tumor in Weston's left eye was probably the cause of the detached retina but could not tell for sure. The Doctors there immediately got on the phone and got an appointment set up for Weston to see some specialists at the children's hospital in lowa City.

ln lowa City, they performed multiple ultrasounds of many different types to see the tumor better, followed by an MRI

to make sure the tumor was contained to his eye only, but they had only scanned his head and neck area. So, a week later Tyler and Becky had to take Weston back to lowa City for a CT scan to make sure there were no other tumors anywhere else in Weston's body.

Thank goodness the tumor was contained to only his eye and no other tumors were found, but with the MRI scan they found a cyst next to his brain stem. Doctors are convinced the cyst is a bunch of dead cells that he most likely has had since birth, at this time they will just continue to monitor the growth with MRI's every 6 months. So, Tyler and Becky faced a horrifying set of options and circumstances to make a decision that will most definitely affect Weston and their family for the rest of their lives.

The doctors had discovered the tumor was roughly half the volume of Weston's eyeball itself, rendering any functional

use of his eye completely unsalvageable, and even if they chose to continue testing, Weston would never regain any

usable sight out of that eye. Considering all that, they're choices were:

Option 1- Continue further with testing of the tumor and take a decent biopsy, which would significantly increase the

chances of spreading the cancer, no matter what type

Option 2- Could take a smaller biopsy sample with a tiny bit less risk, but that particular method can only verify just a

few of the possible cancers on a huge laundry list of possibilities that this tumor could be.

Both Options 1&2 Also involving the regular treatment plan of chemo, radiation, and more surgeries, all involving several other risks and chance of spread.

Option 3- Because the tumor is contained to Weston's eye alone, the eye itself could be removed along with the

tumor and all risk of spreading anything, just gone in one surgery, hopefully.

So, Tyler, having been through chemo, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant himself almost 8 years ago to correct a super rare genetic mutation (GATA2 Deficiency), just could not even consider putting his son through the same tortures and lifelong side effects just to try to diagnose the tumor and to salvage an eye that did not work and would never work again. Becky 100% agreed with Tyler that the only logical and safest choice for their son was to have the eye and all risk removed, and for the doctors to do their testing of the tumor itself after it was out of Weston.

ln the upcoming months, the entire Barcus family will have several trips back and forth to lowa City for follow up appointments, and once Weston has healed up from the initial eye removal surgery, he will need to be professionally fitted for a custom-made Ocular Prosthetic piece, which is also only done in lowa City for the entire Midwest.

Weston had always been so full of joy and happiness. Before all this, he loved helping out in any way he could, whether it be at school helping other kids or helping out at home doing the dishes or splitting firewood. He had just started teaching himself to play piano via YouTube, an app on his mom's phone, and a beginner book he made his mom buy. He has been an absolute trooper through this entire process so far and refuses to let any of it get him down.