Support Seamus' Family to Kick his brain cancer

Hi! My son Seamus (James Talbott) is pictured on my profile page. He was diagnosed with a malignant grade 3-4 brain tumor located in the thalamus in October 2024. He received daily radiation therapy treatment and chemotherapy for six weeks. He was placed on homebound school through the radiation treatment and some time to rebuild his strength.

These treatments necessitated that I use my FMLA, which is not paid time off. I was granted the catastrophic sick leave.It covered 15 days of my FMLA. After returning from FMLA, my checks were smaller to account for the lost time and additional days I missed. I did return in time to be eligible for FMLA for next school year.

Treatment History:

December: It has been a month since this journey started. We drive to the Mays Cancer center daily. Visits with the oncologist, neurosurgeon, and the doctor overseeing the radiation. We are checking into the recommended clinical drug trial. This will begin after radiation and chemotherapy are finished. We continue to pray a solution will be found for him. We are thankful to all of you that have donated in many ways to help us get through the struggles. Please continue to pray for him and share the link to help us continue the journey for Seamus.

He has been approved for the clinical drug trial. We've been told this drug has already shown success in adults to stop the recurrence of a tumor in the thalamus. FDA has approved testing on children but it is set up that 2 out of 3 will get the actual drug and 1 the placebo per FDA testing guidelines. Please pray he receives the drug and shows it helps. The expected start date is near the end of the year or possibly right after the new year. Thank you to all for everything.

Two months complete in the drug trial and coming up the MRI to indicate if it's placebo or the drug.

The drug study started in January 2025. The MRIs were good in January and March with tumor shrinking. The May MRI was not good. New tumors were discovered. A spinal MRI was ordered and done to check for additional tumors. The fundraising amount raised to cover the ongoing co-pays and non covered expenses.

MRI's were great until May. New tumors were discovered in the brain. A special spinal MRI was ordered. Tumors were discovered along the spine. It is believed that with these new tumors the drug study was a placebo or it doesn't work. He was withdrawn from the clinical drug study. We were advised radiation and chemotherapy would be painful and probably not help prolong life significantly. We left the oncologist in charge of the drug study and returned to the previous oncologist. Seamus chose to try radiation anyway. After 2 days of radiation he had significant vomiting without having any chemotherapy yet. We were advised to go to palliative home care for the remainder of his life.

Moving forward, the additional funds will continue to cover the pay loss to cover household bills. As it is uncertain when his last day will be with us, I can not predict when I will need to use FMLA in the next school year. This will be another loss of pay when it happens. If there should be any remaining funds we are going to select one of the cancer charities to receive those funds if any.

Thank you to everyone helping us through this painful journey with Seamus.