Family, Friends, and Loving Strangers,

I’m here to share the devastating story of a brave young boy that is fighting for his life, with hopes that we can all come together and help his mother in any way we can, as she is a single mother of 2, with another baby on the way, expected to arrive in March 2025.

Kayden is a happy, energetic 9-year-old boy who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive, grade 3 supratentorial ependymoma, a fast-growing malignant (cancerous) tumor in the brain, a terrible diagnosis that no child or family should ever have to face.

About 2 months ago, Kayden started experiencing headaches. They started worsening in January. He was seen in the emergency department as well as by his primary care provider several times due to the ongoing headaches he continued to experience. All of those times, they were sent home and nothing was done. His mother requested imaging be done to further evaluate, as she could tell that something just wasn’t right, but was told that imaging was not necessary, “nothing was wrong and there were no signs of a tumor.” She continued to request imaging be done for a month and was told this was not needed each time. After several office visits with no answers, he was finally diagnosed with migraines and was sent back home.

Once back home, he had a choking episode which caused him to not want to eat anything for the next 2 days.

Being unable to eat for 2 days started to cause weakness. After trying to stand up from the couch one afternoon, he fell over, losing his balance. He was taken back to the emergency department where an MRI was finally done. Preliminary results showed a brain mass which was affecting the nervous system. The family was advised he needed to be transferred to Seattle Children’s Hospital immediately for a very high-risk surgery.

Due to weather complications, aircraft was not available immediately, so there was a delay in getting him transferred. During this delay, his blood pressure dropped drastically, resulting in him being intubated.

Later that night/early morning, he was airlifted to Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Upon landing, nearing 7:00 am Saturday morning, the care team was on standby waiting for the patient’s arrival. He was rushed into surgery to remove the mass.

After a long 7 hours, the surgery was completed.

They were told that the mass was completely removed. A follow-up MRI was scheduled to be completed on 02/04/2025, to evaluate a finding that was seen in the thecal sac. Results to that are pending. Once available, they can decide on the next steps for Kayden, depending on what’s revealed in the results.

As of now, Kayden is scheduled to undergo a lumbar puncture on 02/07/2025. The plan moving forward is for Kayden to undergo radiation therapy daily for 8 weeks, and possible chemotherapy to follow, depending on how his body reacts to the radiation. He will also be receiving speech therapy and physical therapy due to side effects from this fast-growing disease.

As we all could imagine, this is not going to be an easy time. The financial burden of Kayden’s treatments is overwhelming. Bills are accumulating quickly, and costs for travel, as well as other unexpected expenses, are quickly piling up. Being a single mother, Olivia had no other options but to leave everything behind at their apartment (Kennewick, WA), to be there for her son to undergo this treatment. They will need to remain in Seattle through the entire course of his treatments, at least 3 months, until at least 1 month post-treatment when there will be further imaging to check on the progress and treatment response.

Olivia’s youngest, 7 years old, stayed behind with a family member to continue with school, while Kayden is expected to be in Seattle for the next several months, minimum. With the newest addition to this kind, beautiful family coming quickly, the stress levels continue to rise. Olivia has arranged to deliver baby #3 in Seattle.

Unfortunately, with the timing, she is nowhere near prepared. She has no way to get around as she does not have a reliable source of transportation, she has none of the necessities for the new baby, she is worried about bills at home and being unable to pay rent for the next few months, and she does not qualify for any assistance or FMLA.

We are humbly asking for your support to help alleviate some of the stress and worrying so that Kayden’s family can continue to fight with him through this journey and have a warm home to return to when this devastating journey is complete.

Whether it’s a donation, spreading the word, or simply keeping Kayden and his family in your thoughts and prayers, your support will make a huge difference. Any and all donations will be used specifically for Kayden’s medical bills and / or necessities for the new baby.

Thank you for all your love and support. We will be sure to keep you all updated on Kayden’s journey.

With sincere appreciation,

Olivia Valdez