On June 16th, 2023, 20 year old, Ciara Tomlinson’s life would be changed forever. Ciara is a rising junior at Florida State University. She has been on the Deans list since attendance of college and a sister of Pi Beta Phi.

Ciara Tomlinson had been a perfectly healthy and joyous child growing up, until the end of 2022. She first started experiencing dizzy spells, followed by constant nausea, throwing up bile every morning, double-vision, slurred speech, and recently, partial facial paralysis and weakness of voice. We sought help from doctors for 7 months. We pleaded for tests to be ran and scans be done. Bloodwork was conducted on multiple occasions and a ct scan was performed during Ciara’s spring break. All in which was found to be cleared and normal. She was thought to have vertigo to which an ENT specialist said what she has is not vertigo. Thereafter, doctors diagnosed Ciara with anxiety and depression as everything else was normal. Months went by and the symptoms did not improve. Ciara finally started having partial facial paralysis. Upon further advocation and pushing for answers we demanded a MRI be performed.

June 16th Ciara received a call from her physician that every parent dreads. She needed to be driven to the emergency room immediately as a tumor was found in her scans the day prior. After further investigation from neurosurgeons at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and Shands Hospital in Gainesville, it had been confirmed that Ciara has been living with a 3.5 cm tumor growing in the middle of her brain stem in the 4th ventricle. Due to the location of the tumor, doctors ruled the situation to be inoperable. The exact type of treatment cannot be planned as the type of tumor was not discernible unless a brain biopsy is performed. A brain biopsy was then performed and the pathology report noted that the tumor is Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs). The result was a devastating result as the prognosis is a 6-9 month life span. Radiation has been the proposed solution. 6-8 weeks of radiation, Monday through Friday. Another option is to participate in a clinical trial using immunotherapy along with radiation to help reduce the tumor. Not much is known of these treatments but Ciara is a strong and courageous young lady that wants to fight and hope that this is the breakthrough treatment to help cure this cancer. Ciara is not giving up and will fight to cure this cancer from herself and hope that it will pave the way for others going through what she is going through.

We want to thank each and every one of you for keeping our precious Ciara in your thoughts and prayers and ask for you to continue to send her your positive energy. We would appreciate your help in any way. If you could make a donation to help Ciara and the research for this cancer, it would be greatly appreciated. If you are unable to contribute monetarily, please pray for Ciara and those who have fallen under such conditions.

The Tomlinson family will forever be grateful for the support and love shared during this challenging time. All of the support given to Ciara will never be forgotten.