Hope for Harrison

Jill Hoke is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Jennifer Payne.

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In February of 2018 Harrison had a grand mal seizure at school. This was his first seizure. His mom raced to the school and he was transported to Primary Children's Hospital. It took a couple of weeks to get into the right doctor and get an MRI. They classified his first tumor as a DNET. They said it was slow growing and had most likely been growing for years based on how the bone had formed over the tumor. The tumor was removed in June of 2018 and subsequent MRI visits were clear.

In June of 2020 his mom noticed that Harrison would periodically put his hand on his head at swim practice. When he was asked if his heard hurt, he would say yes but he was fine. Harrison has high functioning autism and a very high pain tolerance. He rarely says if something is hurting. He was already scheduled for his routine MRI in the middle of July, but his mom felt like there was something going on so she got him in early. This is when the second tumor was found. His MRI in December had been clear and this tumor was already 2/3 the size of his previous tumor. The second tumor was located in the same location as the first tumor which is the left frontal lobe. His second craniotomy was done on July 31st. The neurosurgeon thought that it would also be a DNET. Unfortunately subsequent testing of the tumor has revealed that it is malignant.

They are currently calling the tumor a pediatric glioma with high grade features and EP300-BCOR fusion. This tumor is very rare and currently there are only three known cases in the world. Harrison has another MRI scheduled in a couple of days where they will look at the entire brain and spinal cord to make sure that he does not have any tumors growing elsewhere. If he does have anymore tumors, he will need to have surgery again to get them removed. The oncologist is recommending that our sweet Harrison go to Seattle Children's hospital to have radiology done. He and his mom will be traveling up there and will most likely be up there for there for 7-8 weeks while having it done. Following radiation, he will most likely come back to Utah for chemotherapy.

As you can imagine the cost of cancer treatment is expensive. Once you add in having to quickly relocate for additional treatment it gets even more expensive. My sister would never ask for help. She prefers to be the giver. I would like to help alleviate the cost for her family so that they can focus on Harrison and not worry about expenses. This money will be used for their living expenses in Seattle and the out of network medical bills that will come. Anything that you can donate would be appreciated. If you can't donate, prayers and sharing the campaign would be appreciated.