Hi, my name is Kim Kulp and I have a daughter, Allie. Maura is one of my Allie’s best friend.

Here is Maura’s story from her mom, Andrea:

On July 28th I took 13 year old Maura to the ER at CHOP for what we suspected was migraines. We got the shock of our lives when an MRI showed she had a large fluid filled cyst and small tumor on her brain. She had her first brain surgery to drain the cyst and remove the tumor on July 30th. We found our her tumor was a grade 3 Anaplastic ependymoma on August 2nd which meant cancer and radiation. She went in for her radiation planning and simulation on August 17th only to find out that she needed a second brain surgery as the remnants of her tumor had grown. Maura had her second brain surgery on August 18th. On August 31st we found out that Maura’s tumor is aggressive and after her 33 radiation treatments are complete she will need 4 cycles of chemotherapy. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support for Maura and our family as we go on this journey we never imagined we would be faced with.