Brianna Grace Brain Tumor Fund
Donation protected
April 9, 2018.
It was a Monday and like most Monday’s Brianna didn’t want to get up and go to school. Even 8-year-olds can have a case of the Monday’s now and then, or so my sister had hoped. This Monday turned out to be very different. It was life-altering, heart-stopping, and heartbreaking.
My sister is a critical care RN and has had a gut-wrenching feeling for years (6 to be exact) that something was medically going on with Brianna. She, like any good parent, took her daughter Brianna to doctor after doctor looking for answers. She went to a total of 27 specialists over 6 years, each one explaining away Brianna’s weird symptoms and unexplained weight gain. My sister kept thinking all along that Brianna may have a tumor in her pituitary gland and asked for CT scans and MRI's from many physicians over the years. All of the doctors just said the same thing, "she is just overweight" blaming her symptoms on her weight.
Refusing to do CT scan because “we don’t like to expose children to that much radiation” or "the insurance is never going to approve an MRI". All of the doctors were telling her that her daughter's raspy voice, paralysis of the vocal cord, swelling of her head, dizzy spells with nausea were just symptoms of weight gain.
Finally, on April 9, 2018, Brianna had another rough morning of dizzy spells and couldn’t get up. My sister took her back to the ER who again, blamed her weight. They told my sister that her dizzy spells were because she is an anxious child, she needs to lose weight and to see a psychologist. My sister refused to leave the ER without a CT scan.
Our worst possible nightmare was now a reality. Brianna, in fact, does have a brain tumor.... and because so many years had passed and so many health care providers let my family down, the tumor has had years to grow and spread into her spinal cord.
These same doctors, including the ER doctor that day, are calling my family almost daily to tell them how sorry they are and to check on Brianna. We are not trying to put down the health care system, Brianna’s mom is an RN. We want all parents out there to know that frequent hiccups, hoarse voice, body odor at a young age, and dizzy spells are some of her symptoms that are definitely directly related to her tumor. Please do not simply pass them off as no big deal.
Brianna is in for the fight of her life and needs her parents and brother to be with her as much as possible. Her mother and father both had to stop working in order to take her to Memphis, TN to Bonheur Children’s Hospital for tumor resection. Here was her best chance to get as much of the tumor out based on size/location and the fact that it spread.
Her first 15-hour surgery on April 16, 2018, had complications of blood clots throughout her brain. Then on April 27, 2018, she had to go back to surgery because of fever, leaking of Cerebral Spinal Fluid and intense pain. She now has a brain drain (EVD) and may need a ventricular shunt in the coming weeks.
Both her parents were everyday hardworking people, an RN and Journeymen Linemen, just getting by day to day and trying to do the best for their family. Now they both need to be with Brianna as she is extremely ill and as any 8-year-old would need, she needs her parents by her side.
So, if you are able to help them in a monetary way in their desperate and darkest time of need, then Thank You from the bottom of our hearts. If you are unable to help monetarily, then please lift up our family in prayer because we need all the thoughts, prayers and love we can get for our family at this time.
We pray that you will never have to hear the words the ER doctor told my sister, “I’m sorry, you were right... She has a brain tumor and we have failed her all these years”
It was a Monday and like most Monday’s Brianna didn’t want to get up and go to school. Even 8-year-olds can have a case of the Monday’s now and then, or so my sister had hoped. This Monday turned out to be very different. It was life-altering, heart-stopping, and heartbreaking.
My sister is a critical care RN and has had a gut-wrenching feeling for years (6 to be exact) that something was medically going on with Brianna. She, like any good parent, took her daughter Brianna to doctor after doctor looking for answers. She went to a total of 27 specialists over 6 years, each one explaining away Brianna’s weird symptoms and unexplained weight gain. My sister kept thinking all along that Brianna may have a tumor in her pituitary gland and asked for CT scans and MRI's from many physicians over the years. All of the doctors just said the same thing, "she is just overweight" blaming her symptoms on her weight.
Refusing to do CT scan because “we don’t like to expose children to that much radiation” or "the insurance is never going to approve an MRI". All of the doctors were telling her that her daughter's raspy voice, paralysis of the vocal cord, swelling of her head, dizzy spells with nausea were just symptoms of weight gain.
Finally, on April 9, 2018, Brianna had another rough morning of dizzy spells and couldn’t get up. My sister took her back to the ER who again, blamed her weight. They told my sister that her dizzy spells were because she is an anxious child, she needs to lose weight and to see a psychologist. My sister refused to leave the ER without a CT scan.
Our worst possible nightmare was now a reality. Brianna, in fact, does have a brain tumor.... and because so many years had passed and so many health care providers let my family down, the tumor has had years to grow and spread into her spinal cord.
These same doctors, including the ER doctor that day, are calling my family almost daily to tell them how sorry they are and to check on Brianna. We are not trying to put down the health care system, Brianna’s mom is an RN. We want all parents out there to know that frequent hiccups, hoarse voice, body odor at a young age, and dizzy spells are some of her symptoms that are definitely directly related to her tumor. Please do not simply pass them off as no big deal.
Brianna is in for the fight of her life and needs her parents and brother to be with her as much as possible. Her mother and father both had to stop working in order to take her to Memphis, TN to Bonheur Children’s Hospital for tumor resection. Here was her best chance to get as much of the tumor out based on size/location and the fact that it spread.
Her first 15-hour surgery on April 16, 2018, had complications of blood clots throughout her brain. Then on April 27, 2018, she had to go back to surgery because of fever, leaking of Cerebral Spinal Fluid and intense pain. She now has a brain drain (EVD) and may need a ventricular shunt in the coming weeks.
Both her parents were everyday hardworking people, an RN and Journeymen Linemen, just getting by day to day and trying to do the best for their family. Now they both need to be with Brianna as she is extremely ill and as any 8-year-old would need, she needs her parents by her side.
So, if you are able to help them in a monetary way in their desperate and darkest time of need, then Thank You from the bottom of our hearts. If you are unable to help monetarily, then please lift up our family in prayer because we need all the thoughts, prayers and love we can get for our family at this time.
We pray that you will never have to hear the words the ER doctor told my sister, “I’m sorry, you were right... She has a brain tumor and we have failed her all these years”
Organiser
Laura Marsh-Redfield
Organiser
Fort Lauderdale, FL
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