Brave Ave from Billings, MT

Avery’s Story:

This is my baby. My freshly turned 21 year old baby. My first daughter. My first child. She’s grown up with me. She’s gone through hell with me. She’s part of me. My girl. My cheerleading loving first born, my soft hearted little leader. Avery’s had to work her ass you off for every accomplishment she’s achieved. And I’m so proud of her. In January of 2025, she woke me up in the middle with of the night to tell me she was scared. The lymph nodes in her neck were golf ball size. It was worrisome but she could breath ok and felt ok besides that. My own lymph nodes will swell when I’m getting sick, not as big, but definitely bigger, so I convinced her to go back to bed and we’d address it in the morning. Little did we know, this was the beginning of our nightmare. Avery continued to be sick.

Multiple doctor visits resulted in no diagnosis or diagnosis ranging from ear infections to UTI’s, sometimes she’d just lay in bed and not go to the hospital because, “Mom, they’re just going to tell me nothing is wrong with me “. I thought she was tired. She was working two jobs, cheering at her college, and attending school full time. I told her to keep pushing! summer would be here soon and she’d get to rest. And she did. She kept plugging along. And then summer came. She got a break from school, she retired from cheer to move on to coaching, she quit one of her jobs. She made honor roll. And she got sicker……. Avery celebrated the Fourth of July 2025, but the following week she had debilitating stomach pain. Thankfully she works in a hospital. Her boss (a nurse) sent her to the emergency room during her shift because she thought she needed to have her appendix removed or had kidney stones. I met her at the hospital as they prepared her for an appendectomy. Following a CT scan, we got the news that my baby, my first born, my Avery bug, the best big sister to her littles, has a tumor. A rare tumor. Pheochomocytoma. She was immediately set up with endocrinologist and surgeons in our area, blood and urine tested, and put in the touch with Mayo Clinic. Even though this journey started in July, it feels much longer. Blood and urine tests, medication introductions and adjustments have led us to today.

We arrived at Mayo Clinic on the 22nd expecting her to undergo surgery to remove her tumor sometime this week. A symptom of Avery’s tumor is secretion of adrenaline which results in high blood pressure. High blood pressure can cause a stroke. It’s a miracle she hasn’t had a stroke already. The medication she’s on helps her have less “spells” (high blood pressure episodes). Shes gone from having 7-8 per day (blood pressure readings as high as 210/113), to having 1-2. This is great, but they are wanting her to have none. With this surgery, the tumor is very vascular and she has a higher chance of bleeding out, she also has a higher chance of having a stroke during surgery. We were anxious and excited for surgery, but unfortunately, the Doctors didn’t think Avery was ready.

Fortunately, Avery does have health insurance but we weren’t prepared for the added cost of travel and hotels by having to make multiple trips to Mayo Clinic. If you’re able to donate to help alleviate some of these costs, words cannot express our gratitude. If you aren’t able to donate at this time, please keep my daughter in your prayers, this is just as valuable and important to us. Any donations that go unused will be donated back to our community, to a charity of Avery’s choosing (TBD). We love you, Avs!!!