Angie's Brain Tumor Battle

One minute life’s a breeze, and the next minute it flips upside down and without warning you are left living a nightmare. For most of us this has not happen, but for Angelina and the Ruiz family their entire world has changed. Angelina Ruiz-Gutierrez is the daughter of Carlos Ruiz and Nohemi Gutierrez. A week after Angelina’s third birthday on December 4, 2016 they noticed she was having difficulty with her vision. She became blind in one eye and is experiencing vision loss in the other eye. Upon taking her to doctor's visits they said she was born that way. Her mother and father insisted she could see when she was younger and requested a second opinion. A specialist was called in two weeks later and requested an MRI. That Dr. was able to see something wrong with the results. He then sent the family to see a specialist in Los Angeles which diagnose her with a life threatening brain tumor. Angelina was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a rare illness that occurs in only 100 children a year.

 Angelina seen the specialist on Thursday in Los Angeles and was admitted to CHOC Children’s hospital the same day. They scheduled her for emergency surgery the next morning. The Dr. went in with the intention of removing or draining the tumor. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful and was not able to remove any part of the tumor.  The tumor was connected to the optic nerves and the pituitary glands.  At that point they had to stay at the hospital for a few weeks to try to stabilize her. They spent Christmas away from the family at the hospital.


On February 16th 2017 Angelina begin  receiving proton therapy, a type of radiation treatment, in San Diego, CA. On Thursday, February 23rd the doctors notified them that Angelina needed to be immediately transferred to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio. She received treatment for a week and then returned to San Diego. Angelina is now receiving six weeks of radiation therapy in hopes of shrinking the brain tumor.

We don’t know what the future holds for Angie, but we do know that she is a strong, brave little girl.  For those of you who have asked what you can do to help, THANK YOU.  Your thoughts, prayers, good vibes, meals cards, phone calls, and texts have been so appreciated.  If you feel so inclined to make a donation, your support will help cover the cost of medical expenses, travel back and forth for treatments, as well as lost income while away from work.