Haylee's Healing!

In 2015, Haylee had an awake craniotomy at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX to remove a tumor that was located in her motor cortex. The surgeon was able to remove about 90% of the tumor and still keep all of her motor functions intact. The pathology report returned showing that she was diagnosed with a rare, primary, recurrent brain tumor called an Oligodendroglioma. Following surgery, she completed 32 proton therapy radiation treatments and 12 oral chemotherapy treatments.

For about 6 years Haylee continued to have close monitoring, clear scans and went on to enjoy life to the fullest with her husband of almost 12 years, Lance, their oldest daughter, Kenlee (age 9) and they even had boy/girls twins, Layton and Hadley, in 2018 (age 4), God has a funny sense of humor, there’s a story there.

In May of 2021, Haylee had a grand mal seizure and since then she has had several other focal motor seizures and was hospitalized in July 2022 at MD Anderson for cluster seizures. Since these events, the doctors have gathered there is tumor progression and despite all of the anticonvulsant medications her team has tried, she is still having multiple seizures weekly. She has been diagnosed with refractory epilepsy which are seizures that do not respond to medications and he was told her best case going forward with no intervention would be one seizure a week and continue on the max dose of three different medications that interfere greatly with everyday life.

Because of all of this, her surgeon and oncologist have decided the best route would be to have another awake craniotomy to remove any tumor possible without causing any deficits to her left hand/arm/face. MD Anderson will be partnering with another great surgeon at UTMB, who specializes in seizures, to map the seizure focus with hopes to remove it during the same surgery to give her seizure freedom going forward.

The process will be broken into two separate trips. The first will be to UTMB in Galveston, TX to be admitted for two weeks for 72hr external EEG, followed by electrode implantation directly into her brain, monitor for a few days and hopefully this will give a clear indication of where the seizure focus is located for removal.

The second part will be the actual awake craniotomy. Shortly after returning from UTMB, she will go to MD Anderson for another two weeks for pre-op diagnostics, surgery, ICU and observation.

Depending on pathology, they advised that another round of chemotherapy may be likely. This would be 6-8 months and require Haylee (and a caregiver since she can no longer travel alone) to fly back to Texas monthly.

Haylee, her family and friends are extremely optimistic and ready to take a step toward getting her back to her best quality of life. They have continued to let God lead them and allowed their faith to carry them through this last year and a half. However, this time around with surgery/treatment they have a lot more responsibility/children/etc. Haylee had to step down from her job recently due to seizure activity and medication side effects. Because of all of these moving pieces we are asking for support on their behalf. Above all, we want to wrap them in prayer.

Any funds donated will go toward medical expenses, flights, hotels, caregivers, household expenses during surgeries/further treatments while Haylee isn’t working, meals, and anything needed to take the financial pressure off of the family throughout this process. Thank you for your generosity!

Please continue to pray fiercely for :

surgery and care team, successful surgery, no deficits, no seizures, no paralysis

strength, endurance and patience for both Lance and Haylee during surgery, healing and treatment

the kids' resilience and peace about their mom

quick healing

healed completely in Jesus’ name

God leading them over more decisions to come after UTMB results

family and friends willingness to give their time, love, finances and any other support

caregivers that want to love on the Rivenbark kiddos like their own

the Rivenbarks home church, Emerge, and all other churches that have come together to pray for this family