Farrah has a Grade 4 glioma DMG ( Diffuse Midline Glioma of the spinal cord). It’s a rare brain tumor that traveled to her spine. She was paralyzed from the surgery to remove the tumor and is now fighting to survive this diagnosis. Here is her story.

Farrah's Story

My daughter Farrah has been diagnosed with a rare brain tumor that traveled to her spine. She is 27 yrs old and has a little boy who is almost 7 yrs old. Last year in June, she started having back pain and went to countless urgent cares, emergency rooms and doctors to get help. Sadly they saw her age and not the symptoms. She told them that something was wrong and that she was scared because she was losing feelings in her left leg, and lower parts of her body. They sent her away with steroids and muscle relaxers and said she would be fine. Doctor’s said it was probably a pulled muscle. She begged for an MRI everywhere she went. The pain got steadily worse, and I saw my beautiful young daughter begin to decline. Farrah fell several times. She could barely walk, yet she pushed through, and continued to work as long as she could. After being rejected several times, she finally got the MRI. It showed an 8 cm mass on her spinal cord.

We brought her to LSU Oschners hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana with the images in hand asking for help. Four days later they did a surgery (7 hours) to remove as much of the tumor as possible, but during the surgery she lost function in her legs. The surgery successfully removed about 75% of the tumor. Pathology came back cancerous.

My heart dropped. All I could think was she's paralyzed and now cancer too?! How would she be able to handle this devastating news? Her life was turned upside down in an instant and so was ours. She walked into the hospital but wasn't going to be able to walk out.

The pathology came back and showed that she has a Grade 4 glioma, a brain tumor that traveled to her spine. The doctors told us it is a very fast, very aggressive cancer. Farrah had been walking when she medically shouldn't have been. The tumor grew from within her spinal cord and had taken it over where the mass was.

She went to a rehabilitation center for a couple of weeks to teach her how to live life in a wheelchair. Now we are home and about to start chemo and radiation therapy five days a week for the next 6 weeks. Chemo will continue even longer after radiation. I have no idea what life is going to look like for the next 6 weeks or anytime, but I ask for all the prayers and love we can get. My husband Shane and I are taking care of Farrah in our home. If anyone would like to donate, we would greatly appreciate it. Any donations would be used for ( things her insurance doesn’t cover, such as supplies for daily living, and expenses associated with her treatment, including traveling back and forth to appointments ).

If you are a praying person....I ask you to please pray, pray, pray for my daughter Farrah as she goes through this difficult time and our family and her little boy, Everson. He doesn't understand what is happening to his mommy.

From the bottom of our Hearts We Thank You…

With Love, Shane & Trinity Harbour