Kaden’s fight against grade 4 brain cancer

Hi, my name is Lidiann, and I am fundraising for my nephew Kaden Andrews. His mom, Ariana, has been very private about his journey which started on March 1 of this year. She has given me permission to tell you about Kaden, in hopes that she will be able to provide Kaden with experiences that she would not otherwise be able to give him. Spontaneous trips to the beach, or a sporting event can be very costly, but even more so when you have a child battling cancer.

On March 1st, Kaden began experiencing stroke like symptoms at school. Slurred speech, facial drooping, which progressed to seizures. He was taken to Vidant, testing showed a mass in his brain, he was then transported to Duke where he underwent extensive testing, including a brain biopsy.

After several weeks, many seizures, and sleepless nights, the results came in. Kaden has a grade 4 glioma in his frontal lobe which is inoperable.

Radiation was ordered, he underwent several weeks of treatment, but the tumor did not shrink, but it also did not grow. Then Kaden began to lose vision in one of his eyes, he had more testing and they determined the tumor is so large it is pressing on his optic nerve. He has been on steroids to control the swelling, and he has now begun chemotherapy.

The most recent scans show more swelling, but doctors are hopeful the swelling is from the cancerous cells in the tumor dying from the radiation, and not from tumor growth.

Through all of this, Kaden has not complained, not even as he has suffered seizure after seizure, he’s just wanted to comfort those around him. What has made him most sad is the hair loss, and at 9 years old, it is hard for him to understand why he is going through these physical changes.

We don’t know what the future holds for Kaden, but we do know we want him to be able to experience trips to the beach when he’s feeling well, he loves football and basketball, and can no longer play, he would love to go to a game. He is currently on a waitlist for the “Make a Wish” foundation, and we are working diligently with several organizations, including Transitions Kids, which is the company I work for.

any donation is greatly appreciated, we thank you for taking time out of your day to read this