Creating memories with baby Ashton

Ashton Charles entered our lives at 8:34 am on 10/12/2020. He was the most beautiful baby boy, born with a full head of dark hair. Unfortunately, following a bout with seizures at 3 months old, Ashton was diagnosed with an aggressive ependymoma brain cancer that had metastatic spread to his spinal fluid. We put our precious boy through two grueling rounds of chemotherapy with the hopes that the metastasis would resolve, the tumor would reduce in size, and Ashton could have a chance at tumor resection and prolonged life. To our profound disappointment, Ashton’s cancer was not responsive to chemotherapy. His primary tumor grew in size by 40% during treatment and the metastasis is still present. More aggressive chemotherapy isn’t indicated for Ashton because of the devastating side effects it would have on his developing body and brain. His young age, the mass effect of his tumor, and the metastasis of the disease preclude Ashton from any current clinical trials that might give him a realistic shot at beating this. Given all this information, we have decided to bring Ashton home and make him comfortable while our little family gets to spend however much time we have left with him making as many memories as possible. 

First and foremost, I want to convey that we are not a desperate family in need of financial assistance. Mom is a hospitalist and dad is a stay at home caregiver to our two year old son Cameron and baby Ashton. We reluctantly started this fundraiser after many inquiries from people about how they could help us. The last thing we want is anyone contributing that needs the money more than we do. We have good health insurance and have been very responsible over the years with our finances in preparation for an emergency like the one we are faced with. 

Now that I’ve given you the background of what brought us to this place, let me explain to you what we will do with the funds if we are blessed with any generosity. As I mentioned before, we are a one income household. Donations would allow Mom to reduce her shifts at work and spend more time at home with her dying baby boy. We would also like to possibly take some family adventures to create lasting memories and keepsakes that us parents, but most importantly big brother Cameron can look back on in the future to remember baby Ashton. Obviously we will have funeral expenses to cover in the not too distant future. Lastly, it is our pledge to you that if something wild happens and this fundraiser goes viral, we will donate any unused funds to the appropriate nonprofits in Ashton’s memory. 

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about our family.  If you have the means, the desire to help, and the willingness to contribute to the plans we have for the weeks or months ahead we will gladly accept your charity.