Support Carson's Battle with Brain Cancer

We are setting this Go fund Me up on behalf of Matt and Jen Randall to support our nephew Carson in his recovery from Brain Cancer. Below is the back story and latest update on Carson from Matt and Jen.

Update as of May 1st:

Carson's tumor was a medullablastoma, which is a type of childhood cancer. We were shocked to find this out, as the tumor was resected easily and he is otherwise a healthy boy. This cancer IS TREATABLE- that being said, our journey has just begun.

Carson has been working so hard in his therapies and has come so far, however he is still working on his balance and walking unassisted. His right arm is also still weaker than the left so we will continue to work on that.

We will be discharged from MUSC on Friday, May 2, and we will be able to go home for a few days. We will have to go to Jacksonville, FL for radiation treatment around the 19th of May. Radiation will be for 6 weeks then we will be home for a 4 week rest period before we start chemotherapy. Chemo will be somewhere between 6-7 months in and out of MUSC.

We have been told that Carson will lose his hair, he will not be able to participate in sports or go to school during his treatment, and of course there are other side effects/deficits he may face as a result of these treatments.

He has been such a fighter the last month and we expect nothing less from him in the weeks and months to come. We truly appreciate everyone's prayers, support, thoughts, donations- I can honestly say I never thought this would happen to us - but it has and I thank God that we have all of you in our corner.

So please continue to pray and continue to spread the GoFundMe page and I will keep everyone as updated as I can in the meantime. We love you all so much and our safety net is bigger than I ever imagined. THANK YOU ALL

Original Post:

Our sweet buddy, Carson, has been at MUSC since March 27th. In the days and weeks prior to this, we noticed that he was vomiting every few days and complaining of headaches more often and then his eyes began to look different, as if they were crossed. We spoke to the pediatrician, who recommended we see an eye doctor, as the symptoms weren't necessarily happening all at the same times. So we waited for that referral, however on the 27th, Carson threw up twice in one day and was in excruciating pain with a headache right after. We went straight back to the pediatrician who said we should just go to MUSC to have some brain scans and rule out anything neurological.

We got there around 3 pm and by 9:30 pm they told us our worst nightmare. They had found a mass in his brain. We never could have imagined that our energetic, saucy, fun loving boy could have been growing this awful thing in the back of his head. Almost immediately, we were talking with neurosurgeons about removing it. They said if we had not brought him in things would have gotten much worse over the next weeks. My sweet angel endured so much the first several days and I can't imagine the confusion and fear he felt and is still feeling. The tumor was removed successfully, nothing was left behind. We are now waiting for pathology to let us know the nature of the tumor.

In the meantime, we will be moving to an inpatient rehab facility- I'm not quite sure which one yet, but it sounds like it will be out of town. Carson is making leaps and bounds every day in his physical, occupational, and speech therapy. He is fighting so hard to get back to his old self and we are so proud of him. He just recently started being able to smile and make some sounds. His right side became very weakened after surgery, but he's working hard to regain that strength as well. He is working on walking and sitting up and doing things that used to come so naturally to him.

We appreciate all the love and support we have received during this time- it truly has been amazing- we are so lucky that so many people love Carson, his sister Elliott (10) and us. Having said that, we don't know yet what insurance will cover as far as the rehab facility goes and we also don't know what the price tag is on our 2 week stint at MUSC. Any donations would be so greatly appreciated but also know that no matter what we will do what is best for our sweet buddy and figure out the financial details when we can.

He is our priority and getting him back to basketball and playing with friends and going to school are our main focus- no matter what it takes. We are extremely hopeful this will happen!

-Matt and Jen Randall