Hi, I’m Sierra Wards Aunt, Bethany. My niece and family are in need of some help. Something very unexpected and terrible has happened.

Sierra is a beautiful, loving, smart and spunky 19 year old. She is a college student going to school to be an elementary school teacher. She loves Jesus and sings in the choir and praise team at her church. Currently, she is a registered behavioral tech and works with children with autism.

Six weeks ago Sierra started having some neurological issues: facial numbness, fire sensation in the face, loss of feeling in arm and hand, dizziness, constant ear ringing, sensitivity to light and very bad headaches. They became more consistent. Nothing had helped with the head pain. Her primary care Dr ordered an MRI which resulted in a cyst like mass being discovered. Due to constant head pain, she was sent to Duke and an additional mri w/contrast was taken. It then revealed a tumor/ lesion on the brainstem.

Today, she and her family met with the surgeon at Duke. Surgery is the only option! She will be having surgery on March 24th at Duke hospital.

(CRANIECTOMY W/EXCISION POSTERIOR FOSSA TUMOR). They will be removing part of her skull and taking the tumor in a very sensitive area of the brain, on the brain stem. It will then be sent for labs to determine whether it is benign or not.

With all this said, her mom and dad, Elisha and Derek will have to miss work as Sierra will have to stay over at Duke and Sierra will need some one to care for her in the 6 weeks following. There are a lot of complications that could come from this surgery and close monitoring is crucial! This family has been there for many. They always go above and beyond to help others and Myself, friends and family ask if you would be able to help them financially in this time of great need. The pandemic has affected their family owned car business over the past few years putting them in a strained situation. We don’t want them or Sierra to worry about covering any medical bills, gas, stay at the hotel, missing work etc. Thank you in advance to anyone who contributes! God Bless you!