Helping Andrew Beat Brain Cancer

Hello Everyone, 

Steven and I were reaching out to our family & friends for guidance at first. This is just BEYOND us financially. Ive prayed and prayed about this, if this was the right thing to do. My husband and i have stayed up talking to eachother about it. We beleive it is the right choice to create this gofundme. Our 6 year old son, Andrew Josiah Munoz was recently diagnosed on December 23rd 2020 with medulloblastoma grade 4 brain cancer. It is a very aggressive brain cancer In children, affecting mostly boys. As you can imagin we are very heart broken and Devastated, but very thankful that we were able to catch some Signs before something worse could have happened. Andrew was not acting like himself, he was emotional, distant, isolating himself from everyone. Wanted to be alone. Was mumbling/ slurring his words. He didnt want to tell us what he was feeling within his own body. I had a motherly instinct that something was just not right. We, steven and i decided to take him to valley childrens hospital. I gave my husband steven a list of notes with dates that i had wrote down with all the strange things Andrew was doing. I told him to please let the Er know. I knew maybe they wouldnt want to help my son since he did not have a fever and looked normal. Thankfully one of the nurses payed attention to all his signs and ordered a CT scan. Sure enough our worst nightmare was about to unfold, with in less than a hour my husband steven calls me as i wait in the parking lot. Tells me the doctor wants to speak with me, my heart nearly came out of my chest when i heard what he was telling me. He said they found a very large mass in Andrews brain. He needed to be admitted right away. Our entire life changed with in minutes. My husband steven and i were left stunned. How could this be? How long has our son had this tumor that we had no idea? As you can imagin we had so many unanswered questions. Within hours our son is taken for a mri, hours later his soon to be surgeon came to speak with us, " your son has a tumor, the size of a golf ball",  "I need to do emergency surgery right away". He underwent two major brain surgeries the first surgery was on December 11th 2020 the Second surgery was on December 15th 2020 and by the grace of god he pulled through them both. Steven and i were afraid he wasnt going to have his memory back as a day befor his surgery he could not remember a simple memory of his age or birthday. We truly belive it was the grace of god that our little Andrew josiah was able to have a successful outcome. He had and has his struggles daily with depression, anxiety, paranoia and is still very fearful of hospitals and doctors. He also faced the fact that he was temporarily paralized from his neck and back. Some way some how our son slowly but surely pulled through and is now able to move, play and be himself again. But that changed, On December 28th Andrew received his 3rd surgery to place his port above his heart to receive chemo, he also had a lumber puncture done to see if his cancer spreaded to his spine. This surgery has actually left Andrew in the most pain steven and I have ever seen him. Andrews pain is over powering his medication. We've been comforting him the best we can. We also beleive in the lord and know he will get through this and heal as well. All In gods timing. He was referred to San Diego for Proton Radiation treatment, the only machine that is here in california is in San Diego. He will need to be in San Diego for 7 weeks to complete his radiation plus chemo. Starting January 2021 It will be a mon-fri treatment. Followed by one year of chemo at valley childrens. Followed by other therapies. Andrew will be faceing Other challenges as radiation to a childs brain and spine affects there growth, he will need medication received though a shot till he is the age of 15, to help him grow. He will have to take a thyroid medication for the rest of his life to balance his thyroid, he will need speach therapy. Andrew also faces losing IQ points due to the intense radiation he is about to receive all over his brain. 

As you can imagin we were never prepared for something so HUGE like this. I will be putting my work life on hold to care for my son for as long as i have to, I will be homeschooling him as soon as he is able to function.   

Please help us get Andrew the financial care he will need this year. And next year. Any donations received over our goal will be donated to a childrens research  hospital for brain cancer. 

We just want our baby boy to be healthy again, anyone that knows Andrew knows he is beyond kind, Loving, caring, selfless, funny, silly, friendly. Very affectionate, also very complamentive, he notices every new detail. Always complementing mommy. Always Remimding Daddy & Mommy he loves us. He truely has a heart of gold. 

I am also 8 months pregnant with monochrionic-diamniotic twins, facing unequal placenta sharing, this also is a very complicated pregnancy, where one baby is not getting enough oxogen and blood flow. So this situation also doesnt help. My husband, Andrew and i will be over 400 miles away from eachother for 7 weeks, we also have a 4 year old who will be staying with relatives until i am able to leave the hospital with our baby girls. One baby will most likely have to be in the nicu for 4 weeks. We will Temporarily all be seprated. 

We are humbly asking for your help so that we can provide Andrew with all his present & futur needs, As this will be a long journey. We are focusing on Andrew 100%, Anything truly helps. Steven and i also ask for prayers for our family and most importantly for our little man Andrew. He truly is our Little hero. Our warrior. Thank you to all who have donated, via zelle, 

Venmo. For those who have sent over food to our home, also those sending us prayers. Those gestures mean so much just knowing that we are loved, our son is loved. We greatfully do appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

May the lord bless everyone who donates, who prayes for us, & who is also going through something so difficult. 

#AndrewStrong

#OurHero

#LetsBeatBrainCancerTogether