Medical expenses for little Levi

Our precious, outgoing, fun-loving, bright and dearly loved 3 year old grandson, Levi Gamez, began having some strange symptoms in August 2023. Every few weeks he would get intense headaches accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Levi’s mom and dad, Christina and Nick Gamez, were baffled as to what could be happening.

After this continued for a few months, Christina took Levi to their family doctor on a Wednesday afternoon. The pediatrician initially said she thought he might be having migraine but wanted to do an MRI to rule out any other issues. The doctor’s office called Christina the next day to let her know the doctor would like to rush the MRI and get results as soon as possible. Within a few hours of the MRI, the doctor called and said a neurosurgeon would need to meet with them to discuss some findings from the images.

The first MRI revealed something we’d never heard of, but soon learned could be a very serious, life-threatening complication. Levi has Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM). Simply put, AVMs are a clump of veins or blood vessels that could rupture and cause an aneurysm. The tests revealed that Levi has two AVM’s on the frontal lobe of his brain. One of the AVM’s is on the outer edge and another lies deeper in his brain. Over the past few months, Levi has had an MRI, an MRA (more detailed MRI), a cerebral angiogram and a CT scan to look at his brain (undergoing anesthesia each time). A team of two neurosurgeons and a radiation oncologist insisted that these AVM’s must be treated immediately.

Because of the risk of invasive brain surgery at such a young age, the medical team has agreed that the best option for treatment is Stereotactic Radiosurgery (at least 2 separate procedures) followed by genetic testing to discover if there is a likely risk of recurrence. The Radiation Oncologist who will lead the surgery warned that a 3-year-old undergoing radiation for AVM’s is very rare. Most patients are between the ages of 10-30 when they find out they have an AVM and these are very often symptomless until a brain-bleed or aneurysm occurs.

We are so grateful that God, through caring doctors, revealed that Levi needs to get these AVMs treated now. We hope and pray that these treatments will be completed this year. As you can imagine,the Gamez family has already paid a lot of money towards the many tests and specialists Levi has seen in the past few months. As we move forward, their immediate need is $5,000 by this Thursday and at least $15,000 in the coming months. Your gifts will help us to raise the $15,000 needed for the initial costs of radiation treatments, MRI’s, CT scans, genetic testing etc. All the monies raised will go toward paying for Levi’s upcoming medical bills this year. On behalf of our entire family, we are honored that you would consider helping our sweet Levi get well.

We are trusting that Jesus will heal him as he begins radiation treatments on March 7 and 18th. We thank you for your diligent prayer, and kind generosity as we move forward to seeing our precious Levi healed.

On behalf of Nick, Christina, Sam, and Levi Gamez…our entire family says WE LOVE YOU!

Trey Kent