Meet Abby, a 7-year-old childhood cancer warrior and artist at heart. Her sweet and determined disposition have helped her fight for her life against Medulloblastoma. 
When Abby was just 6-years-old, her parents began to notice some changes in her concentration which led doctors to evaluate her for ADHD. After several failed medications and Abby complaining she didn’t like the way they made her feel, her mother Debbie decided to discontinue use. After Abby’s condition worsened, her parents took her to see the pediatrician. Their pediatrician was concerned so they recommended a neurological consultation. While waiting for the neurologist to come in, Abby got sick several times but the doctor brushed it off. The pediatrician followed up with the family that night and urged Debbie to get Abby to the ER that evening for a CT scan.
On May 3, 2018 Abby was diagnosed with a tumor in her brain. Debbie remembers, “We went into this room that felt like it was smaller than a cardboard box. That is when I heard the words, ‘Your daughter has a tumor in her brain. From where it is, I am thinking it is a cancer that children are known to get. I screamed, ‘No no no no!’ I left the room and went outside and screamed into the silent parking lot. I couldn’t breathe, my heart felt like it might burst. I called my mom and we cried together. I felt my whole self being thrown into a hellish nightmare, one I couldn’t leave, but one that could possibly take my beautiful daughter away. I don’t know how, but I came back into the room.”
After collecting herself, Debbie went back into the room and looked at Abby. She took a deep breath and prepared to tell Abby what was going on. Innocently, Abby looked at her mom and said, “Are they going to get it out?” Abby was then transferred to C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan where surgeons quickly performed a biopsy and treatments began the very next day. On May 7th, just four days after being diagnosed, doctors performed a full resection of her brain taking four hours to complete. As a result of the brain cancer, she has a condition known as Pos Fossa syndrome – effects that will never go away. She experiences delayed learning, anger, frustration and confusion. Abby decided that if she couldn’t use her right hand, she would use her left and retrain her brain.
Radiation started just after Abby’s 7th birthday. After a few treatments, Abby’s scalp began to become sore so Debbie knew it was time to cut her hair shorter. Later, the radiation would take her hair. The harsh treatments made Abby see flashes of light and smell weird smells. These treatments required her to be face down and strapped to a board, which Abby did not like. Abby was able to ring the bell on July 19th after 30 rounds of radiation. On August 28, 2018, Abby started maintenance chemotherapy which will last until July 2019.
Throughout treatment, “Abby has remained an amazing pillar of positivity and courage,” according to Debbie. She struggles with not being able to go to school and misses her friends but she is maintaining her positive attitude. “She’s my shining star. My superhero and when she smiles it lights up my heart and the room. We will fight and we will win.”
You can follow more of Abby’s story on her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Abbys-Army-Fighters-463842050777912/
To support childhood cancer fighters like Abby: https://www.acco.org/donate/
Together, we can make a difference.
Donate today because kids can’t fight cancer alone®.
About American Childhood Cancer Organization
The American Childhood Cancer Organization was founded in 1970 by parents of children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer. As the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots organization dedicated to childhood cancer, ACCO is committed to shaping policy, supporting research, raising awareness, and providing free educational resources to kids with cancer, survivors, and their families. Additionally, ACCO is the sole U.S. member of Childhood Cancer International (CCI) and has helped support more than half a million families over the past 50 years. Help make childhood cancer a national health priority because kids can’t fight cancer alone®.
For more information about how ACCO can help your family, call 855.858.2226 or visit:
Before beginning a discussion of general statistics relating to spinal cord tumors, it is important to note up front several key issues.
Meet Taylor, 16-year-old ambitious designer and entrepreneur. Taylor was determined to live life to the fullest, and wanted to be known as “a kid with cancer, never a cancer kid.” She didn’t want cancer to define her. Devastatingly, she passed away after a five year battle with cancer. Sue, her mother, said, “Taylor believed in life that all you need is love, and her memory is indelibly imprinted onto the hearts of everyone she left behind.”
In an excerpt from her book, “Paint Your Hair Blue, A Celebration of Life with Hope for Tomorrow in the Face of Pediatric Cancer” Sue writes: “Taylor’s life was not only about what she accomplished, but also about what she left behind. Her boundless optimism, even at the bleakest moments, and her zest for life, even as death neared, taught me more about love than I thought there was to know. Taylor believed in life that all you need is love, and her memory is indelibly imprinted onto the hearts of everyone she left behind.”
“It is hard to imagine what I felt. It was as if someone took my breath away and I found myself struggling just to breathe. As parents we don’t have the luxury of falling apart, and I quickly rallied to ask about the x-ray done in September when I was told that my son was constipated. They pulled the x-ray and the mass was in the same place that they misdiagnosed as constipation” remembers Patricia.
American Childhood Cancer Organization Gold Ribbon Hero to Attend 2019 State of the Union Address
eet Jake, a master builder, explorer and a creator who was taken too soon. Jake had an “imagination like no other and he loved an adventure. He loved hiking, exploring old abandoned railroads and creating” recalls his mother, Sandy. He loved “legos, building blocks, sticks, rocks, you name it and he could make something out of it.” 
Meet Michele, a forever 24-year-old cancer warrior that was taken too soon. Just by looking at Michele’s social media, you could tell that she loved to live life. She loved traveling, especially to the beach. Michele fought a three year battle with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). The cancer was initially found in her forearm in 2013. In the fall of 2014 she relapsed. In the final year of her cancer journey, she was referred to another oncologist who tried a new chemotherapy that seemed to be working for a short time from February to June of 2016. 
During her fight, she continued college and graduated from University of Connecticut with a BA in Psychology, minoring in Women’s Studies. She held a 3.74 GPA and was the Magna Cum Laude with high honors. She even started graduate school for her Master’s degree in Social Work at Southern Connecticut State University. She wanted to prove that, “yes, I have cancer; but cancer doesn’t have me”, as she would state on her Facebook page.
Meet Olivia, a dynamic and determined 13-year old who loves theater and softball. Olivia is a brave cancer warrior currently fighting acute lymphoblastic t-cell leukemia (ALL).
Currently, Olivia is in the maintenance phase of treatment with home chemo pills, a monthly clinic chemo, and quarterly lumbar punctures with methotrexate.
Together, the brain and the spinal cord—the sensitive column of nerve cells inside the vertebrae of the spine—make up our central nervous system (CNS). Cancers of the central nervous system, more commonly called brain and spinal cord tumors, are the second-most common form of cancer in children, after leukemia. Statistically, brain tumors and spinal cord tumors are often grouped together; however in reality, there are a number of different types of tumors of the brain and the spinal cord, each of which requires a unique treatment approach and carries its own prognosis (outlook).