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| Crystal & Jayden just after birth, 12/29/00 |
Jayden has always been a happy, healthy
little boy with no serious illnesses or accidents - just the normal boo-boos little boys get. On Thursday, February
19, 2005 Jayden was playing at home, fell off the couch, and hit his head on the floor pretty hard. Minutes later, he vomited. His
mom, Crystal, decided to keep an eye on him. A few hours later, he got sick again. Crystal
then called Jayden's pediatrician. He advised her to take Jayden in for a CAT scan to check for a possible concussion. She
took Jayden to the emergency room at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, NC and they performed a scan.
The scan showed Jayden didn't have a concussion, but revealed a tumor at the base of his brain, in the brain stem
area. Jayden and Crystal were immediately transported via Care-Link to Brenner Children's Hospital in Winston-Salem,
NC and Jayden was admitted.
Friday morning (2/20/05) at Brenner's hospital, Jayden had an MRI.
That afternoon, the pediatric oncologist came to Jayden's room to discuss the MRI with Crystal. The doctor showed
her a picture of the scan and explained that Jayden had a brain stem tumor in the pons area of the brain stem.
She further explained that the tumor was inoperable due to both the location and structure of the tumor, and also stated that
this particular area of the brain stem did not respond well to treatment.
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| Crystal & Jayden at Brenner's, 2/21/05 |
The MRI also showed fluid and swelling on his brain. Over
the weekend, doctors told the family Jayden would need a procedure performed to drain the fluid from the brain.
They also started administering a steroid, Decadron, to reduce the swelling. The procedure to remove fluid
was scheduled for Monday, February 21, 2005.
The procedure went well, and Jayden was almost back to his
normal self by that afternoon, even playing! One of the odd things during all this is that Jayden never displayed any
symptoms of having a tumor.
During the day on Monday, a group of doctors at Brenner's consulted
with each other to discuss Jayden's tumor and his treatment. Late Monday afternoon, the pediatric neurologist came to
Jayden's room to give us an update and recommended treatment plan. The doctor told us Jayden's tumor is called diffuse
pontine glioma. Their recommendation was radiation, combined with a chemotherapy drug, Temozolamide, along
with continued supportive care. They wanted to begin treatments on Wednesday, the 23rd. He informed us that without
treatment, Jayden's life expectancy was a matter of weeks, and with treatment, a matter of months.
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Life can be such an emotional roller-coaster: The first
photo on the left showing the joy & miracle of birth, while the photo to the right showing how quickly
it can turn to pain and fear.
Live
each day to the fullest. Time and life are precious. Love your family, keep in touch with friends, and pray for
them all. God, family and friends are the only important things you'll need in this life.
___________________________________________________________________
As you can imagine, Jayden's mom, Crystal and the rest of the family
had been in a state of mixed emotions all weekend - shock, disbelief, anger and confusion. The doctor's news on
that Monday afternoon was the worst you can ever possibly imagine.
Somehow, we managed to remain calm enough to ask about the
possibility of a second opinion. We had e-mailed two different doctors on Sunday, February 20 (thanks to information
supplied by Dr. Bennett Fein of Asheboro, NC) explaining Jayden's situation and our desperation for some ray of hope.
One doctor was in Washington, DC, the other at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. Both doctors replied early
Monday morning, and agreed to see Jayden immediately. The family responded by contacting Duke late Monday
afternoon to obtain a second opinion. An appointment was made for Jayden at Duke on Tuesday, February
22, 2005 with Dr. Sri Gururangan at 1:00pm.
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