Rooting for Rylie- Fighting A Rare Brain Cancer

Rylie Jade Snodgrass, a beautiful 3 year old girl, was unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor on September 9, 2021. She was spending the week with grandparents, anxiously awaiting the birth of her baby sister, when they started to notice some questionable physical changes. On September 13, she went in for brain surgery to remove the tennis ball sized tumor that was quickly exacerbating her symptoms. She was so brave and strong, and was discharged home only 3 days later!

On her post-surgical MRI, it appeared that she had a full tumor resection. Rylie's tumor results came back as a rare, grade 2 RELA positive ependymoma, which is when Eric and Jordan consulted two oncology teams, one at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and the other at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. It was decided that she would need radiation therapy. Her pathology was also sent for a second opinion by one of the best pathologists in the world at St. Jude, who ended up changing the severity to an aggressive grade 3. Unfortunately, this now meant that Rylie would need chemotherapy, as well.

Jordan and Eric made the decision that Rylie will receive her proton radiation therapy at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. There aren’t many facilities in the area that perform this type of radiation, and that location was chosen so that the Snodgrass family could be surrounded by family during this difficult time. To prepare for therapy, Eric and Rylie flew down to Orlando the week of November 1 to complete Rylie’s MRI and mapping CT. Unfortunately, the MRI showed two new questionable areas. As a result, Rylie will now require an additional brain surgery. After recovering from surgery, the whole Snodgrass family will travel down to Orlando for Rylie to start 6 1/2 weeks of radiation therapy. Upon their return to Milwaukee, Rylie will have one month of rest before starting chemotherapy.

Please follow along on this difficult journey as updates will be posted along the way. ❤

Disclaimer: This Go Fund Me account has been set up as a result of family and friends wanting to find a way to support the Snodgrass Family with their upcoming needs: medical bills, airline flights, time off from work, etc., .