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Journal entry by Melissa and Ricky Dove — 7 hours ago
As a lot of you have heard, our 3 year old son Jonah Patrick Dove was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor on 1/24/19. We were in the process of working up some general left arm weakness/loss of motor function.
We had visited the neurologist, just a week before with the likely diagnosis of an intrauterine stroke when I was pregnant with him. He thought we were just seeing the deficits since he was having to use more fine motor skills. We elected to still proceed with the MRI brain just to make sure. But we felt such peace about it and honestly that diagnosis sounded like it fit.
January 24, our life changed forever. We were sitting in waiting room while he got the MRI. We had no anxiety or fear. Really peace all was fine. It wasn’t too long and the nurse came out. She said they found something abnormal and they will be scanning his spine. She said I am sorry. I hope it all works out for you and left. Of course we were shocked. I asked for consulting room and the neurologist called us right away. It indeed was a brain tumor and a very large tumor with some hydrocephalus or fluid on brain. We were notified that he needed to be transferred to Cincinnati children’s hospital by ambulance. We were shocked and devastated. Where did this come from and why?
The process was was fast and smooth. Children’s was great at getting us there and we arrived in ER quickly. It was hard to see all the faces of the staff as we came thru, as they knew the case that had just came in.
We got to a room and the neurosurgeon came it to share details. It was what they called an angry MRI. It was a large tumor in central portion of his brain arising from thalamus, which is above the brain stem. The tumor has two large cyst coming from the tumor. The cyst are what started to grow and cause the symptoms. The doctor stated that he could not remove it all, as it would be too dangerous for him. They would need to do surgery to drain the cyst and debulk the tumor. They were hopeful this would help treat his symptom for now.
Many questions thought ran thru our heads. Mainly, is our son going to make it. They have encouraged us that he has compensated for this tumor and made new paths and essentially highways inside his brain to bypass the tumor as he grows. It is likely that he has had this not long after he was born, but to difficult to know.
They believe that it is so slow growing that with little removed, he should maintain function and live productive life they are saying. The future will involve chemothey for our little boy. Radiation maybe in future but not till his brain has developed. The goal to keep the cyst from growing and ideally maintain stability of the tumor.
We we are still in shock and have cried many tears. No one wants to be in this place. It is a horrible place, we never imagined ourselves to be in. But we have strong faith. We believe in a God who is faithful and true to His Word and His promise. He will not leave us or our little Jonah. Prior to all the diagnosis, in December, I felt the Holy Spirit remind me how God had healed him once when he was born and that He had this one too. We are going to stand on this promise.
The surgery is is tomorrow at 7:30 am. We are asking for all the prayers we can for our little man. He is a fighter and has a strong healthy stubborn spirit. . We will try to keep everyone updated thru this page.
Thank you you for all your help, support and love to our family during this time.
Melissa and Ricky
As a lot of you have heard, our 3 year old son Jonah Patrick Dove was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor on 1/24/19. We were in the process of working up some general left arm weakness/loss of motor function.
We had visited the neurologist, just a week before with the likely diagnosis of an intrauterine stroke when I was pregnant with him. He thought we were just seeing the deficits since he was having to use more fine motor skills. We elected to still proceed with the MRI brain just to make sure. But we felt such peace about it and honestly that diagnosis sounded like it fit.
January 24, our life changed forever. We were sitting in waiting room while he got the MRI. We had no anxiety or fear. Really peace all was fine. It wasn’t too long and the nurse came out. She said they found something abnormal and they will be scanning his spine. She said I am sorry. I hope it all works out for you and left. Of course we were shocked. I asked for consulting room and the neurologist called us right away. It indeed was a brain tumor and a very large tumor with some hydrocephalus or fluid on brain. We were notified that he needed to be transferred to Cincinnati children’s hospital by ambulance. We were shocked and devastated. Where did this come from and why?
The process was was fast and smooth. Children’s was great at getting us there and we arrived in ER quickly. It was hard to see all the faces of the staff as we came thru, as they knew the case that had just came in.
We got to a room and the neurosurgeon came it to share details. It was what they called an angry MRI. It was a large tumor in central portion of his brain arising from thalamus, which is above the brain stem. The tumor has two large cyst coming from the tumor. The cyst are what started to grow and cause the symptoms. The doctor stated that he could not remove it all, as it would be too dangerous for him. They would need to do surgery to drain the cyst and debulk the tumor. They were hopeful this would help treat his symptom for now.
Many questions thought ran thru our heads. Mainly, is our son going to make it. They have encouraged us that he has compensated for this tumor and made new paths and essentially highways inside his brain to bypass the tumor as he grows. It is likely that he has had this not long after he was born, but to difficult to know.
They believe that it is so slow growing that with little removed, he should maintain function and live productive life they are saying. The future will involve chemothey for our little boy. Radiation maybe in future but not till his brain has developed. The goal to keep the cyst from growing and ideally maintain stability of the tumor.
We we are still in shock and have cried many tears. No one wants to be in this place. It is a horrible place, we never imagined ourselves to be in. But we have strong faith. We believe in a God who is faithful and true to His Word and His promise. He will not leave us or our little Jonah. Prior to all the diagnosis, in December, I felt the Holy Spirit remind me how God had healed him once when he was born and that He had this one too. We are going to stand on this promise.
The surgery is is tomorrow at 7:30 am. We are asking for all the prayers we can for our little man. He is a fighter and has a strong healthy stubborn spirit. . We will try to keep everyone updated thru this page.
Thank you you for all your help, support and love to our family during this time.
Melissa and Ricky
Organizer and beneficiary
Dawn Stephens
Organizer
Spring Valley, OH
Melissa Dove
Beneficiary