Support Ava's Fight Against Thyroid Cancer

Hello,

We are Charlie and Jessica Seymour and on January 7, 2025, our world was turned upside down when our 5 year old daughter, Ava, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Our story begins on November 19, 2024 when we received a concerning phone call from our daycare regarding a lump on Ava’s right side of her neck. I immediately left work to bring Ava to Sacred Heart Emergency Department. After drawing labs and having a Cat Scan done we were told that her thyroid was only inflamed and that the lump would go away on its own. After a month of watching this grow, and not going away, we were referred to Endocrinology at Sacred Heart. Here, we had more labs drawn, more scans and an ultrasound done. On December 24, 2024 we were told by Dr. Drawdy with Endocrinology that there was some calcification on her thyroid and that it was a sign that cancer could be present. We were then referred to an adult ENT surgeon for a consult. This is where we were told that Ava was positive for Papillary Thyroid Cancer. After a month of lots of labs and tons of phone calls, we went back for a follow-up with the ENT surgeon and were told he felt it necessary to send Ava out to a major medical facility. We chose University of Alabama Birmingham. We were referred out to them on February 14, 2025 and had a consult booked for Monday 2/17/25, and surgery scheduled for 2/19/25. Ava had to have her thyroid completely removed, and as they were in the middle of surgery, they did a freeze biopsy on her lymph nodes. We then found out the cancer had metastasized to her lymph nodes and a full neck dissection was necessary. Our daughter underwent a 6 hour long, 5 surgeon surgery on February 19, 2025. She will have to continue medication for the rest of her life to balance her thyroid levels as well as continuous scans and labs to ensure the cancer does not reappear somewhere else in her body. This means lots of travel back and forth to UAB, which means missed work, travel expenses and medical bills to say the least. We have been blessed so far with the amount of support and prayers we have received and would like to thank everyone involved from the bottom of our hearts. Ava has a long road to recovery as well as a long journey ahead of her. We will keep everyone updated as her difficult journey continues.