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Our little girl Olivia was diagnosed with a Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma. This diagnosis came after we had taken Olivia to the local children’s hospital on 21 occassions, she spent 7 weeks in hospital and been released with no diagnosis. The doctors told us that although Olivia vomited on average of 4 times a day, woke up crying in pain every night sometimes as many as sixteen times, that her loss of use in her left arm and subquently her loss of use of her left leg as “something she would out grow”. Eventually our fierce advocacy that we knew our little girl better then anyone else doctors gave in and preformed a CT scan. Being in Canada hospitals are not a “Business” in the sense that the more tests they perform the more money for the hospital, instead it is the opposite. We were told by our neurosurgeon that had it been much longer that Olivia went undiagnosed that she would have not survived. It was very difficult to hear the words “brain tumor” That night after she was diagnosed I laid in her hospital bed holding her and much like something you would see in a movie those words were deafening, over and over I could hear the doctors saying “brain tumor”. Neuro surgeons were very quick to determine that Olivia’s best case of survival was surgery, within two weeks. However going back to how our hospitals are run they informed us that due to cut backs and a long weekend that surgery would not be able to be preformed for three weeks. It is every parents duty to protect their child, I may not have been able to physically perform surgery to save her, but I was determined that “cut backs” in the Canadian health system would not be responsible for me losing my baby. I contacted the media in our city “London, Ontario” and they were eager to help. With thousands contacting the hospital and government Olivia’s surgery was moved to a week and a half later. It was an odd feeling on one hand fighting for the surgery and on the other hand being petrified that I was pushing for something that may kill her. The week leading up to surgery was the hardest watching her play knowing that this may be the last Monday, Tuesday etc. that she will be with us. I wanted to pack up our family and run. There was no running from this, this would follow us like a serial killer. It is so hard for parents to hand over their child to a complete stranger, it was my job to protect her and make everything better not give her to someone else to make it better, but that is exactly what we had to do. I had the opportunity to carry her to the operating room. I could see in her eyes the curiosity of “what is going on”, Laying her down on the operating room table hearing her screams for mommy were more then any mommy should have to handle. Listinging to her cries diminishing praying to god that I would hear those sounds again. A cry that like most moms used to get on my nerves at times would now be the most beautiful music I had ever heard. The 13 hours of surgery went by amazingly slow, each time a phone rang, or a door opened I feared the worst. At the 13 hour mark I had to walk, on my way down the hall I saw her neurosurgeon coming towards me, I was scared to read her face. The first thing she said is “she is doing ok!” We were told that she would be on a ventilator for a while, so when I heard a muffled “Mommy!” I couldn’t even turn around, I wanted it to be her but how. It was, she was crying, that beautiful music. Surgery had gone well, her tumor was located in the brain stem almost like an upside down tear pushing on her spinal cords. Things had gone well but they were not able to resect the last 10% due to her breathing becoming a problem in that area. To see her was the most wonderful thing. Far exceeding the first time I saw her when she was born. I was still so scared, due to the media coverage I gave an interview the next day, the city had responed with such kindness, even people as far away as England, and Australia had contacted us. This was even more amazing when by the time we left the hospital some three weeks later her room was decoraged in over 200 emails from complete strangers that had sent their prayers.

Doctors did not think Olivia would need chemo therapy, however within a few weeks an MRI showed that the tumor was regrowing. We started taking Olivia two and half hours away from home for weekly chemo treatments. Olivia is now 34 months old and is currently on a break from chemo and possibly having to have more surgery next month to open and drain the cyst portion of the tumor that has continued to grow while the hard portion has shrunk. We have used all the money from the sale of our home, all our educational savings and RRSP’s, but she is here and she is happy. She has worked so hard and can now walk again, her strength in her left side is much better and did I say she is happy? That is what is important. The diagnosis of a brain tumor is not something any parent or person would want to hear, but each day we come closer and closer to a diagnosis. My husband reminds me everyday the words of wisdom spoken by our daughter Holland when Olivia was diagnosed, she was 4 at the time. “As long as we are all together, everything will be ok!” we now have a 10 month old little boy who is the light of Olivia’s days and like I said we are happy. With the ongoing financial, and emotional support of our family , friends and community she will get through this. Children are the future of the world, we have to protect them.

Oliviasdream.com