My nephew Ollie had brain surgery to remove another tumor on Monday, 4/28. He did great and is expected to be released from Riley’s Children’s Hospital soon. They removed one of two tumors as the other had grown and was too close to areas of his brain responsible for speech. Doctors also inserted an Ommaya reservoir, which is a dome-shaped port (about the size of a quarter) placed beneath the scalp, connected to a thin tube (catheter) to deliver medications directly to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and to sample CSF.

Ollie and family (his twin brother Gabe and my brother Jerimee) now start a year of frequent (5 days a week, every other week) chemotherapy. The chemo drugs will be administered via the Ommaya reservoir, which increases the drug’s efficacy but can only be done at Riley’s 3 hours away from Ollie’s home. The family will incur significant costs associated with travel, lodging, missed work, etc. while Ollie works to get better and again beat cancer.

Please think about helping Ollie, Gabe and Jerimee if you’re able.