Support Mark-Anthony's Fight Against Brain Cancer

Hi everyone, My name is Angie. We are a family of 4, 2 kids ages 9 and 4. My eldest son Mark-Anthony was diagnosed with a brain tumor known as a Medulloblastom on January 8, 2024, I am making this go fund me to seek assistance as the world around cancer is one tough situation not to mention getting him into a hospital where he will be treated as he should be for his cancer. And it being far from home. I am asking for help because we are on one income and don't qualify for much help since on paper my husband makes over the threshold for a family of 4. We are barely surviving and have fallen behind on every bill we have. We don't like asking for help but have come to a point where we cannot even afford to buy groceries or have insurance on our vehicle or pay for tags. We have maxed out our credit cards, we are behind on light, gas and rent and would really appreciate any help we can get just to catch up on bills. We wish we can have a day without worry and do something with our 2 kids that doesn't involve a hospital like take them out somewhere they can alleviate stress. My sons are always asking for something as simple as $5 on roblox or a toy but we just can't afford the bare minimum, we have to choose between putting gas or buying something for them and it breaks our heart that they also have come to terms with it. We just really need help to get back on track and are really grateful to those who can help us during these tuff moments. Below is a bit of back story to understand a bit of what we have gone through, if you'd like to take some time to read it we thank you.

I am going to back track a bit, as I am also trying to raise awareness for those going through the same or something similar. My son had symptoms of something being wrong long before his official diagnosing (started December 2023), he for example was incoherent, confused, would slur his speech, loose balance, oversleep, overeat, and would say things out of his norm, and sever constipation. On December he had a sever constipation episode and was taken into the emergency room since he was in pain and nothing I did at home worked, and was sent home with some Lactulose, he of course eventually went, but other symptoms where still noticeable, so an appointment was made to see his pcp, but of course having Kaiser it was a month away. On 01/06/2024 his symptoms progressed, and a rash appeared, but this rash was one I've never in my life encountered, this rash would travel, it would for a minute appear on his face and the next move to his legs or arms, it just wasn't normal but on top of this he started new symptoms, nausea, dizziness, and headaches! So off we went into the emergency room at Kaiser Fontana again.....as we get there the wait time was absurd! 4 hours! when we finally get inside i started talking to the nurse explaining his symptoms (protocol), but we were suddenly interrupted by the physician who came in upset and told the nurse to stop taking notes and rudely and loudly asked me why I was back in such a short time, I explained his symptoms are getting worse and I brought him in because nothing I am doing at home was working, she said a rash isn't an emergency and I argued it's not only the rash but it just seemed she didn't care or wanted to care. I asked if she can at least run some blood work I his mother felt something was wrong. She upset, agreed but with the condition id allow influenza and a covid test to be done as well (even though I told her no one around him is sick and he's in virtual academy school) so whatever she ran the test and of course the influenza and covid come quicker than a blood cbc test, and she stated I repeat stated he was positive for covid and the rash was something new the hospitals where seeing with covid , but I asked her what about the other symptoms and she said he's probably tired, I asked to see the covid results and she never showed them to me and where never put in his kp.org app either. so, we got discharged with Benadryl (which didn't help) and a biggg F-you. When I got home, I ran home covid test on everyone in my house including my dogs and to my surprise 00000000 of us were positive!! so I called the 800# made a phone appointment and stayed up to keep an eye on my son. at 8 am I received that call and was told they couldn't do anything over the phone based on his symptoms and to make an in-person appointment. At this point I was not going to take him back to kaiser, so we made plans to observe him since he finally had gone to sleep and drive down to Los Angeles from Barstow later that night once traffic calmed down and he woke up, and take him to USC hospital, but we didn't make it as his symptoms where progressively getting worse! I didn't know what to do!! at night fall he woke up and started vomiting a lot and when I say a lot it wasn't something I've seen like with a stomach bug or anything, it was abnormal vomiting! I was trying everything I can with the meds he had Tylenol alternated with Motrin for the headaches, Zofran for the nausea and vomiting, just nothing was working! I called the 800# but they said no doctor was available to speak at the time, and so we started getting ready to head down to LA. At this point around 10:30 pm (01/07/24) the screams started.... he was in an absurd amount of pain in his head, he was even pulling his hair out and saying "my head, my head" so my husband and I got in the car with the kids, and at this point he had vomited about 11 times, and we could not get him to calm down. Getting to the hospital again Fontana kaiser, he had vomited about 16 times, couldn't stand let alone walk he was pal like gray color, was in severe pain, so they passed us in really fast. When the doctor came in, I explained everything to her as it happened since the 6th and some prior symptoms from December, I crying with frustration at this point told her I wasn't leaving with my son that she had to admit him and do very test they can possibly do i as his mother knew something was definitely wrong and no one was doing their job as a doctor! they were failing what oath they once promised! so she sat there and listened to me screaming at her for help and for something to be done I gave her my permission a parent to expose him to radiation, I asked for a ct or an mri to be done, it wasn't up to her it was up to me, I told her to get a patient advocate down there and supervisors or the management team because they were violating my sons patients' rights to be treated, so she finally spoke up and said I'm here to help let me run cultures and a complete cbc and lets do x-rays and a ct scan. FINALLLY!!! it took all I had within my knowledge of the medical field to get something done! So test where done fairly quickly, and as we came back from ct and xray, she sat me down away from my son, and of course my gut feeling was even more wrenching than before at this moment and she told me, she told me the news no parent out there wants to hear, "you were right, he has a 4cmx4cm brain tumor in the back of his head". all these emotions one cannot explain run through your body hearing those words. MY WORLD FELL APART AND TURNED UPSIDE DOWN AT THAT MOMENT. everything from there started going really fast, she set up a transport team to take him down to LA since they didn't have a pediatric surgeon there at Fontana, and we had to call my parents to pick up my little one, the chaplain came to pray with us before leaving, and all this information was given that we just couldn't understand. within 20 min of her telling me we left and where on our way to LA. At LA Kaiser he went straight into the ICU (01/08/24), surgeons, doctor, nurses running around telling us things not telling us things it was just a flash before our eyes. Within hours he had an emergency MRI was done, and his tumor grew now at 5cmx5cm, so they had him on medications and fluids and had scheduled the tumor removal for the 11th. In the morning of the 9th a team of doctors came in and asked us if he'd been sleeping long we said yes he is finally getting some rest, and to our surprise they told us no he is actually not passing any fluid from his brain to his spinal cavity and has severe brain swelling and need an emergency brain surgery to place a line and relieve the fluid, we basically where not aware his body was shutting down. So, within the hour he was in surgery. From the 9th to the 11th, it was just observation, daily MRI's and being told his tumor was aggressive and growing fast. His tumor ended up growing inward to his right ventricle side of the brain and the surgeon was afraid of permanent damages that may occur going in that deep and wasn't sure if she'd get it all out because of the location it started growing into. But we stayed optimistic and prayed that she can get it all out, knowing it may cause damages to his memory, cognitive, physicality, and so forth. Everything went remarkable with the big surgery; it all came out! Now started the other process which was finding out if it was cancerous, what type of tumor, was grade/group the tumor was and a waiting game of what happens now. Shortly after my son was discharged, we received the call with the information on the tumor. It ended up being cancerous and, in the group, WNT which in the 4 groups of a Medulloblastoma it's the "best" one that one can hope for. His process of treatment consists of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. It's a hard road map to explain but I will try to explain my best if any questions on his TikTok page I created @the_force_be_with_you13. I don't post much but I will start to so I can finish off this story as much has happened since, like finally leaving kaiser for neglect and medical harm to my son and switching him to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. I will share the disarray to spread awareness to those who are going through the same or similar and keep patients away from kaiser. Thank you again for taking he time to read.

With much love, the Castillo family.