Donation protected
Our dear friends, Erica and Josh Frary, and their sweet little girl, Hallie, have been through so much in the past 2 weeks of Hallie's life. For only being 6 weeks old, Hallie sure is tough! This sweet girl has been diagnosed with an embryonal tumor and communicating hydrocephalous.
Please read Hallie's story below:
At 3 weeks old she was admitted to St. Mary’s after being unable to regularly keep feeds down. Erica and Josh (E&J) believed she potentially had a formula allergy or an issue somewhere in her GI tract. After a couple days of supporting her nutrition and running tests to check out her digestive system, Hallie was not improving. One of the doctors recommended a brain ultrasound, which sounded strange at the time, but ended up being the first step towards a diagnosis. That ultrasound led to a MRI where E&J learned their sweet girl had a mass in her brain. They were transported to VCU, where they have been working with their amazing neurosurgery team since January 11.
Shortly after being admitted, E&J were shown her MRI images where they saw a ~7cm tumor had taken over her right hemisphere. This caused excess fluid to increase the pressure in her little noggin because it could not drain properly from ventricles and be reabsorbed. This is the part of her diagnosis called “communicating hydrocephalous”. The team decided to place an EVD (external ventricular drain) to relieve/ monitor pressure & drain fluid while they made plans for surgery. On Wednesday, January 13, the amazing doctors at VCU Medical Center successfully removed somewhere between one half and two thirds of the mass. Hallie bounced back amazingly and was alert, checking out the world again the following day. The next week, she was back in the OR to have a shunt placed and the EVD removed. Shortly after that E&J heard back from pathology that the mass was an embryonal tumor, and they have been working with the oncology team to plan her future treatment to fight this cancer.
Hallie's next steps will either be a targeted therapy approach or chemotherapy. While both options will be tough on an infant, the target therapy approach should be less aggressive. E&J are waiting on some molecular testing to know if that is truly an option. E&J have seen that Hallie is a fighter and incredibly resilient, and are hopeful she will tolerate treatment. Pending Hallie continues to heal and recover from her surgeries, treatment should start in the next few weeks, but so much of their future journey is still unknown. E&J are working on getting her off of continuous NG tube feedings and back to bottles, so they can go home soon!
Please help us take one thing off the Frarys' plate (the financial aspect) and show them that you are supporting them and praying for them and sweet Hallie Jean as they tackle this tremendous battle! They certainly appreciate everything all their friends and family have done thus far and this page was created as an additional way to help them out.
Please read Hallie's story below:
At 3 weeks old she was admitted to St. Mary’s after being unable to regularly keep feeds down. Erica and Josh (E&J) believed she potentially had a formula allergy or an issue somewhere in her GI tract. After a couple days of supporting her nutrition and running tests to check out her digestive system, Hallie was not improving. One of the doctors recommended a brain ultrasound, which sounded strange at the time, but ended up being the first step towards a diagnosis. That ultrasound led to a MRI where E&J learned their sweet girl had a mass in her brain. They were transported to VCU, where they have been working with their amazing neurosurgery team since January 11.
Shortly after being admitted, E&J were shown her MRI images where they saw a ~7cm tumor had taken over her right hemisphere. This caused excess fluid to increase the pressure in her little noggin because it could not drain properly from ventricles and be reabsorbed. This is the part of her diagnosis called “communicating hydrocephalous”. The team decided to place an EVD (external ventricular drain) to relieve/ monitor pressure & drain fluid while they made plans for surgery. On Wednesday, January 13, the amazing doctors at VCU Medical Center successfully removed somewhere between one half and two thirds of the mass. Hallie bounced back amazingly and was alert, checking out the world again the following day. The next week, she was back in the OR to have a shunt placed and the EVD removed. Shortly after that E&J heard back from pathology that the mass was an embryonal tumor, and they have been working with the oncology team to plan her future treatment to fight this cancer.
Hallie's next steps will either be a targeted therapy approach or chemotherapy. While both options will be tough on an infant, the target therapy approach should be less aggressive. E&J are waiting on some molecular testing to know if that is truly an option. E&J have seen that Hallie is a fighter and incredibly resilient, and are hopeful she will tolerate treatment. Pending Hallie continues to heal and recover from her surgeries, treatment should start in the next few weeks, but so much of their future journey is still unknown. E&J are working on getting her off of continuous NG tube feedings and back to bottles, so they can go home soon!
Please help us take one thing off the Frarys' plate (the financial aspect) and show them that you are supporting them and praying for them and sweet Hallie Jean as they tackle this tremendous battle! They certainly appreciate everything all their friends and family have done thus far and this page was created as an additional way to help them out.
Organizer and beneficiary
Caitlin Wampler
Organizer
Mechanicsville, VA
Erica Frary
Beneficiary