I’m starting this fundraiser on behalf of my great niece Ivy who has been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer - Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered Rosettes (ETMR). Last month, 14 month old Ivy began tilting her head to one side and vomiting. She eventually had an MRI that revealed a brain tumor. A shunt was placed in her head to drain the fluid build up and a biopsy done. Her diagnosis was revealed a few days ago, and yesterday Ivy started chemo. The plan is to do 3 cycles of chemo, 21-28 days depending on how fast she recovers from each one. After that they’ll reevaluate the possibility of surgery. Following surgery they do more 3 rounds of stronger chemo.

Her family has to travel to a children’s hospital out of state for her treatment and will take turns staying with her while they also take care of her three year old sister. Her dad Jack is self employed and will not be able to work to support them while he is staying with Ivy. Please help them cover medical bills that exceed what insurance will cover, but also living expense so her family can continue to pay their mortgage and afford to survive while they focus on Ivy.

So far chemo has been very rough. From her family in the hospital: “Ivy has started chemo and it’s brutal. It’s a grade 4 Embryonal Tumor with multilayered rosettes. Very rare.

We had a rough night. Ivy was puking from one of the chemo drug and dry heaved and cried for a long time. The alarm went off because her o2 levels went down. The nurses had to put tubes in her nose to raise the o2. It freaked us all out.

This chemotherapy thing got real today. It's rough.

She's up and grumpy with tubes in her heart, brain, veins, and nose. Later today she'll get a catheter in her bladder.”

It’s hard to imagine the pain and upset being experienced by Ivy and her family while they experience this ordeal. I hope we can at least relieve some stress from them so they aren’t worrying about finances.