Help baby Gio fight brain cancer
Donation protected
My 14 month old nephew Giovanni (Gio) is battling an aggressive brain cancer, medulloblastoma. Please help support this sweet boy and his amazing family during this extremely difficult time. Here is little Gio’s story...
Devastating Diagnosis...
On October 17th, my sister Jenny and her husband Josh Baggenstos took their 14 month old son, the youngest of their five children to the emergency room. He went from being a happy, healthy one-year-old boy who had been successfully hitting every developmental and physical milestone, to a lethargic, unrecognizable child who wouldn’t walk and seemed uncharacteristically fussy . His weakness progressively got much worse and he couldn’t even sit up or hold his head up straight without assistance. The first ER doctor who examined him said, he likely was recovering from a viral infection and discharged him with a diagnosis of “tiredness”. On October 19th, Gio could no longer move his body and was vomiting. My sister took him to a different hospital where he was diagnosed immediately through a CT scan. The doctors found his brain was full of fluid (a conditon called encephalitis) which was caused by a large mass that was found in the center of his cerebellum, right up against his brain stem. A team of neurosurgeons operated on his brain the next day to remove the tumor encompassing the space of roughly half the size of his cerebellum (rear part of the brain responsible for movement, coordination and mobility). The surgeons could not remove all of the tumor because of the location in proximity to his brain stem. It was too dangerous, although they were able to remove 90%.
Our little warrior begins his battle against cancer...
After a time in the pediatric ICU, and several surgeries and MRI’s to relieve the excess fluid and swelling building up in his head, Gio was stabilized and doing exceptionally well for such a little guy going through so much. His tumor pathology report confirmed that Gio suffers from a Medullablastoma. This is a rare, aggressive form of Brain Cancer in children. The location of his tumor means there will likely be no more surgery, and his young age prevents him from being eligible for radiation due to the detriment it could cause to his cognitive function and ability to breathe or swallow without major medical interventions. Instead he will undergo a rigorous rehabilitation and aggressive chemo therapy protocol that will be necessary to allow this beautiful boy a chance to grow up and become cancer free.
If any child can beat brain cancer, Gio can! However; he and his family (his parents and his four siblings ages 4-16) have an incredibly long and emotionally and physically taxing road ahead of them. After three rounds of inpatient chemo treatment lasting one week, every three weeks, Gio will be off to another hospital for three months of aggressive chemo and Stem Cell Recovery. These are the recommended treatments at this time for Gio. Aggressive treatment for an aggressive assault on his developing brain.
Meet Gio and the Baggenstos Family...
Gio turned one year old in August, recently learned to walk and was beginning to say quite a few words. He loves to sing and dance along to some of his favorite songs, including Baby Shark and Itsy Bitsy Spider. This is evident by the way he playfully does the hand motions along with us and the songs. He is learning all over again to strengthen his eyes, to move his arms and legs, to walk and to use his voice and body as he did before, to hold objects, and do the things he began doing as a toddler just a short time ago. He is in one form of rehabilitative therapy or another six days a week right now, and is such a strong little guy! Gio and his family need all the strength and support they can get right now. I would invite you to become part of his team.
The Baggenstos family consisted of my sister, her husband and my 8 year old niece what seemed not so long ago, but that all changed on the day they received a call that there were some really special two-year-old twins that needed a good family to take them in and give them a good home; then less than a year later they received another call that the twins’ birth mom was now pregnant and couldn’t care for her baby or her oldest child (15 years old). Jenny and Josh’s family of three is now a family of seven and they are becoming adoptive parents to these amazing four children ranging in ages one to sixteen! We all love these children so much. To see the love and progress each child has made is testimony that family truly means everything here. My sister has hardly left Gio’s bedside, yet makes time to switch shifts with her husband or my mom (Grandma) so that she can come home and spend time mothering the other children who need her. It truly is a village. If you knew us, you would bear witness to it. There are no words to describe how this tragedy has affected everyone. The needs of this family are immediate and the possibility of projecting into the future is high.
What your support means to Gio and his family...
These funds will help offset out of pocket medical expenses (including co-pays, additional rehabilitation equipment not covered by insurance etc.) meals for family members staying with Gio at hospital, transportation costs to and from hospitals (sometimes multiple times daily)and will assist family with income from lost wages. Josh is the sole provider for his family, anyone who knows him understands what a dedicated and hardworking individual he is. While his employer has been very supportive of his taking time off, Gio will have a 3-6 month hospital stay that Josh will not be able to use paid time off for. Additionally, the extra income normally brought in by their small catering company is being lost at this time as all of Josh and Jenny’s time is spent caring for Gio and their other children. Other use of funds will assist in paying for utilities and other household expenses, assist with well-child related costs at home, and provide general financial support for family during extensive hospital stays.
This is an urgent situation. Understanding that lives stop when cancer happens is familiar to our family. We are all too familiar with the chaos cancer creates. It has saturated the lives of several family members and we’ve been fighting the battles for as long as I can remember. Our mother is a survivor, we have some small wins. As a representative of this family, I sincerely thank you for considering the opportunity to donate to Team Gio, because we want a big win this time. It shouldn’t happen to children. Families loving their children are priority right now and sometimes that means that finances are strapped, paid time off gets used up, sometimes people lose their jobs and resources to tragedy, or because they had obligations that called them back to their families. This is all so complicated, yet just happens and stepping in and doing what we can to support those we love is just what we do. No time to be sad, just time to fight. So, again; because I believe in supporting Gio and the family that nurtures him and his family- Thank you and Welcome to Team Gio!
Respectfully,
Robin Blue Representative for Team Gio
(otherwise known as Auntie Robin )
Devastating Diagnosis...
On October 17th, my sister Jenny and her husband Josh Baggenstos took their 14 month old son, the youngest of their five children to the emergency room. He went from being a happy, healthy one-year-old boy who had been successfully hitting every developmental and physical milestone, to a lethargic, unrecognizable child who wouldn’t walk and seemed uncharacteristically fussy . His weakness progressively got much worse and he couldn’t even sit up or hold his head up straight without assistance. The first ER doctor who examined him said, he likely was recovering from a viral infection and discharged him with a diagnosis of “tiredness”. On October 19th, Gio could no longer move his body and was vomiting. My sister took him to a different hospital where he was diagnosed immediately through a CT scan. The doctors found his brain was full of fluid (a conditon called encephalitis) which was caused by a large mass that was found in the center of his cerebellum, right up against his brain stem. A team of neurosurgeons operated on his brain the next day to remove the tumor encompassing the space of roughly half the size of his cerebellum (rear part of the brain responsible for movement, coordination and mobility). The surgeons could not remove all of the tumor because of the location in proximity to his brain stem. It was too dangerous, although they were able to remove 90%.
Our little warrior begins his battle against cancer...
After a time in the pediatric ICU, and several surgeries and MRI’s to relieve the excess fluid and swelling building up in his head, Gio was stabilized and doing exceptionally well for such a little guy going through so much. His tumor pathology report confirmed that Gio suffers from a Medullablastoma. This is a rare, aggressive form of Brain Cancer in children. The location of his tumor means there will likely be no more surgery, and his young age prevents him from being eligible for radiation due to the detriment it could cause to his cognitive function and ability to breathe or swallow without major medical interventions. Instead he will undergo a rigorous rehabilitation and aggressive chemo therapy protocol that will be necessary to allow this beautiful boy a chance to grow up and become cancer free.
If any child can beat brain cancer, Gio can! However; he and his family (his parents and his four siblings ages 4-16) have an incredibly long and emotionally and physically taxing road ahead of them. After three rounds of inpatient chemo treatment lasting one week, every three weeks, Gio will be off to another hospital for three months of aggressive chemo and Stem Cell Recovery. These are the recommended treatments at this time for Gio. Aggressive treatment for an aggressive assault on his developing brain.
Meet Gio and the Baggenstos Family...
Gio turned one year old in August, recently learned to walk and was beginning to say quite a few words. He loves to sing and dance along to some of his favorite songs, including Baby Shark and Itsy Bitsy Spider. This is evident by the way he playfully does the hand motions along with us and the songs. He is learning all over again to strengthen his eyes, to move his arms and legs, to walk and to use his voice and body as he did before, to hold objects, and do the things he began doing as a toddler just a short time ago. He is in one form of rehabilitative therapy or another six days a week right now, and is such a strong little guy! Gio and his family need all the strength and support they can get right now. I would invite you to become part of his team.
The Baggenstos family consisted of my sister, her husband and my 8 year old niece what seemed not so long ago, but that all changed on the day they received a call that there were some really special two-year-old twins that needed a good family to take them in and give them a good home; then less than a year later they received another call that the twins’ birth mom was now pregnant and couldn’t care for her baby or her oldest child (15 years old). Jenny and Josh’s family of three is now a family of seven and they are becoming adoptive parents to these amazing four children ranging in ages one to sixteen! We all love these children so much. To see the love and progress each child has made is testimony that family truly means everything here. My sister has hardly left Gio’s bedside, yet makes time to switch shifts with her husband or my mom (Grandma) so that she can come home and spend time mothering the other children who need her. It truly is a village. If you knew us, you would bear witness to it. There are no words to describe how this tragedy has affected everyone. The needs of this family are immediate and the possibility of projecting into the future is high.
What your support means to Gio and his family...
These funds will help offset out of pocket medical expenses (including co-pays, additional rehabilitation equipment not covered by insurance etc.) meals for family members staying with Gio at hospital, transportation costs to and from hospitals (sometimes multiple times daily)and will assist family with income from lost wages. Josh is the sole provider for his family, anyone who knows him understands what a dedicated and hardworking individual he is. While his employer has been very supportive of his taking time off, Gio will have a 3-6 month hospital stay that Josh will not be able to use paid time off for. Additionally, the extra income normally brought in by their small catering company is being lost at this time as all of Josh and Jenny’s time is spent caring for Gio and their other children. Other use of funds will assist in paying for utilities and other household expenses, assist with well-child related costs at home, and provide general financial support for family during extensive hospital stays.
This is an urgent situation. Understanding that lives stop when cancer happens is familiar to our family. We are all too familiar with the chaos cancer creates. It has saturated the lives of several family members and we’ve been fighting the battles for as long as I can remember. Our mother is a survivor, we have some small wins. As a representative of this family, I sincerely thank you for considering the opportunity to donate to Team Gio, because we want a big win this time. It shouldn’t happen to children. Families loving their children are priority right now and sometimes that means that finances are strapped, paid time off gets used up, sometimes people lose their jobs and resources to tragedy, or because they had obligations that called them back to their families. This is all so complicated, yet just happens and stepping in and doing what we can to support those we love is just what we do. No time to be sad, just time to fight. So, again; because I believe in supporting Gio and the family that nurtures him and his family- Thank you and Welcome to Team Gio!
Respectfully,
Robin Blue Representative for Team Gio
(otherwise known as Auntie Robin )
Organizer and beneficiary
Robin Blue
Organizer
Happy Valley, OR
Jenny Bischoff
Beneficiary
