Devon's Story | Devon's Story |
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Over the summer in '07, Devon’s right eye started to drift outward. Thinking this was a "lazy eye" we scheduled a routine appointment with the Optometrist. This was anything but routine... One doctors visit lead to another, then a specialist at Will's Eye Hospital suspected something much more serious and recommended an MRI. At that point, we realized we were dealing with something extremely serious and got very scared. That was Wednesday October 10th... On October 12th we got the dreaded MRI result that revealed a 3cm diameter tumor in the middle of her brain, validating our worst fears. Time stopped, an overwhelming feeling of sadness and pain filled our hearts. It was unbearable... we began to live in a nightmare. On the morning of October 19th 2007, Devon underwent brain surgery. The Neuro Surgeon operated for over five hours, but was unable to surgically remove the brain tumor. Reason being, the tumor is completely integrated with healthy tissue and is wrapped around the hypothalamus gland and the optic chiasm which houses the optic nerves. Since then, Devon has lost vision completely in her right eye and retains limited vision in her left eye because the tumor is crushing her optic nerves. The pathology report diagnosed her tumor as a Low Grade Pediatric Juvenile Astrocytoma (JPA). The Neuro Oncology Department at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recommend for Devon to begin a treatment plan that included chemotherapy. The goal of the treatment is to stop the tumor from growing and preserve sight in her left eye. Having no other viable options, we agreed to the plan and Devon began her chemotherapy. She will continue to have weekly treatments for one year with frequent MRI’s to monitor the tumor. Nothing has been the same for our family since... Our beautiful little girl’s life has been forever altered because of this brain tumor. Devon’s childhood memories now include weekly trips to the hospital for chemotherapy. Her permanent vision loss is a constant reminder of her illness. Our family has started living in constant fear of the tumor and chemotherapies harmful effects.
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