My name is Abrielle Thrasher and I have 4 amazing kiddos. My oldest son, Rexton, is the most kind, polite, active, friendly, funny, smart kid you will ever meet. He is also the best big brother in the world, and everyone that meets him adores him.

What we thought started out as an ordinary illness turned into something we never expected. On Tuesday, July 22nd, I took him to the ER because he just wasn’t getting better from what we thought was an illness. He was very lethargic, had migraines, couldn’t eat or drink, and was vomiting. The ER did a CT scan and found a mass on his brain. They then transferred us to Cook Children's, where he was taken in for emergency brain surgery. He had spinal fluid buildup on his brain that was causing pressure. The normal fluid is 10 cm; his was at 27-30 cm, so triple the normal. His heart rate was in the low 30s, and they were scared for his life. They put in a drain in his brain to drain the excess buildup. They then did an MRI to assess the mass and found it’s a tumor in his pineal gland that was restricting the ventricles from draining and pressing on his brainstem and ocular nerves. They then did another brain surgery to remove the drain and punch a hole in the membrane to create a new pathway for the fluid to drain. While they were in there, they did a biopsy, and we are still waiting on the results to come up with a treatment plan.

This was all so sudden and very unexpected, as he has been a healthy, active child his whole life. It turned our world upside down. He is stable now, and the fluid is draining as it should. This all made him very tired and hard to do normal activities. It’s so hard to see your very active child go from active to laying in bed for days. We had to stay in the hospital for a week and will continue to have appointments and treatment plans for the tumor. He will also have to have physical therapy and occupational therapy. Me and his father had to take a week off of work, and I will continue to have to miss work to get him back on his feet, for appointments, therapy, and treatment.

We just ask if you could donate anything to help relieve the financial strain this has caused as we navigate this difficult journey. And we will also take all the prayers we can get. Thank you.

****Update

We did not get the news we had hoped for. His tumor is malignant but the biopsy tissue wasn’t enough to make a full diagnosis yet. He will go in next Friday the 15th to remove the tumor or as much as possible. They will send it off to pathology to get a complete diagnosis so we can come up with a treatment plan for after the surgery. Please continue to pray that the surgery goes well as there are a lot of risks. We thank everyone for their support as we couldn’t do this alone. Please also keep sharing as we are going to have to miss more work and will have more hospital stays for surgery.

***Update surgery went well but they were only able to resect 70%. First, we want to express our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of love, prayers, and support for our family during this difficult time. Since the surgery was only able to remove about 70%, they are talking about possibly another surgery from a different approach to get the rest, but that's still up in the air. We know for sure that he gets three weeks to rest, then starts radiation Monday through Friday for six weeks. We do a trial day to see if he can stay still for the entire time, and if he can't, then he has to be put to sleep every time, so we are really hoping he is able to do it while awake. After that, he gets four weeks off, then four months of chemotherapy, and most of that will take place admitted to the hospital. We still don't have a definite diagnosis, as we have to wait for the molecular testing to come back, and that takes three weeks, so the treatment might change a little, but probably not. We still have a long journey ahead of us, and I will have to take leave from my job during those four months and possibly during the six weeks if he has to be put to sleep. To everyone who has prayed for healing, reached out with encouragement, or contributed to the GoFundMe to help support us, you have truly lifted a heavy burden from our shoulders. Your kindness is helping us focus on what matters most: caring for Rexton and being by his side through recovery. We will still be going through financial hardships, as well as emotional and physical hardships for Rexton. Please continue to pray, donate, and share so we can continue to focus on Rexton as we navigate this difficult journey.

*Update 9/11

He had another surgery today to try to remove the rest of the tumor. The surgeon was able to remove ALL of it so it was a total resection which is the best news. Now we just have to undergo radiation and chemo to make sure there are no remaining cells and that it doesn’t come back. PRAISE GOD!!!

*UPDATE 12/29

Rexton finished radiation on 12/1 and did really good through the whole treatment. He had minimal side effects and which is everything we hoped for. He had a month break from treatment so we were able to spend the holidays at home. Now he will undergo a couple of procedures on the 5th to get ready for chemo. He will get a line put in for them to be able to extract his own stem cells, he will get a g button to help with nutrition during chemo, and he will go through a testicular preservation procedure to help his chance of fertility in the future as one of the chemo drugs he will be getting has a very high risk of infertility. He will start chemo the January 12th and get a round of stem cells “rescue” after each round of chemo. He will get 4 rounds which he will get 1 round a month. So roughly we will be in the hospital for 4-5 months. I will have to take leave from work to care for him during this time and Taylor will be at home and work with the kids. The side effects are much more harsh but they have a good feeling that he won’t have much of them. That’s also why they do the stem cells to help his body recover. We might get to go home at the end of each month but it just depends on how he is doing. For the first couple of months we might have to stay in a Ronald McDonald house or local hotel just because we have to keep a close eye on his temperature and if he ends up having a fever at home we would have to rush to the nearest er and he would have to get careflighted to cooks. This is going to be a long hard road and we could really use all the encouragement, help, prayers we can get. Also we are having to fight insurance to cover his stem cell treatments which are VERY important. They are only wanting to cover 1 treatment so we may have more medical costs occur. I am going to extend the T-shirt fundraiser so the deadline will be Feb 1st. We want to thank everyone for their continued support and prayers!

Here is the T-shirt fundraiser link

https://tfujdxro.formester.com/f/otn9BjioU?fbclid=IwZnRzaAO_tslleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeJwlasrYCyj3KCYdySPwHE3nVlrXi0LVw6tvSJyZhX9B9ztJm9I3eyCB4p3g_aem_1pJSrKLjuP8lFFXThBLbgQ

*Update 1/15/26

All of his procedures went well! He started his first round of chemo on 1/12 and he has done pretty well so far with no major side effects which is what we hoped and prayed for. He will get his stem cell rescue on Friday and then after that it’s recovery waiting for his cell count to go back up. When they discharge us in between rounds we will have to stay at the Ronald McDonald house. This is hard because we were hoping we could be at home so everyone could be together. Right now I am staying with him during the week so Taylor can work. Taylor will come and switch with me on the weekends but it’s hard because the kids aren’t allowed in his unit. We still have a long journey ahead of us so please pray everything goes smoothly and he doesn’t have many side effects and we can all be back together soon. Please continue to donate and share as I am out of work now and we need my income to pay bills. Thank you for your continued support. It’s very much appreciated!