Ring ring, Ring ring!

Papaw was calling. My mom was extremely upset and no one knew what to do. I really have no memory of this day since I was just six months old, but I do have lots of stories that have been told to me. I would like to take you on the brave journey that my four year old cousin, Isaac, went through.

It was the evening of July 11th, 2007 when my mom answered the call. On the other end of the phone was my Papaw saying it wasn't good news. He told my mom that my cousin, Isaac, had gotten scans back from the hospital and it was determined that he would need to have a

twenty

hour brain

surgery the

next morning

at Kosair

Children's

Hospital.

The doctors weren't sure but they were pretty positive that he had a type of brain cancer. My parents just

started throwing things in a suitcase and we jumped

in the car to head to Louisville.

The next morning was rough. My mom told me that it seemed like an eternity while Isaac was in surgery. In reality the doctor finished in about seven hours instead of the estimated twenty hour surgery. He said that he got the entire brain tumor but there were two other tumors on his spinal cord that he couldn't touch for fear of paralyzing him. His brain tumor was sent to the lab to see exactly what it was.

Two days later, the doctor came in with the results. Isaac had a pediatric brain cancer called Medullablastoma that had spread to his spine. The doctors said that he had less than a 50% chance of surviving this horrible disease. He was going to have to undergo one month of radiation and then have to be admitted to the hospital once a month for chemotherapy.

Isaac started receiving radiation in August of 2007. It began to make him sick. He then

started losing his hair.

To make him feel better

about being bald, my

Uncle Martin decided

to shave his head too.

Isaac also found that

the radiation effected

his hearing and vision.

At this time

he needed to get glasses.