Maddie Martin Brain Tumor

On November 16, 2015 our 15 year old daughter, Maddie Martin, was diagnosed with a craniopharyngioma brain tumor.  This is a rare benign tumor with only approximately 100 children diagnosed each year in the United States.  On November 24, 2015, Maddie underwent surgery for a resection on this tumor and the doctor was able to remove 85% of the tumor.  The remaining 15% of the tumor will require Proton Radiation therapy and this type of radiaition technology is only available in certain facilities in the United States.  Maddie will have her treatment in Jacksonville, FL.  Treatment will be 30 radiation sessions which will be done Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks.  To add to this, our 4 year old daughter, Natalie Schuster, had emergent surgery on December 16, 2015 for a ruptured appendix and was hospitalized twice due to complications and is now home with a PICC line for at home antibiotic therpay for 14 days.  We are raising money to help cover medical costs, travel expenses, and living expenses, etc as my husband and I have and will miss many days of work during the treatment of both our daughters, especially since we live in Illinois and Maddies 6 week treatment will be in Florida.  We plan to travel to Florida for her treatment all together to keep our family unit together during this time.  We do thank God that Maddie's type of tumor has 85% success rate of being cured after the 6 weeks of radiation and also thank God Natalie is recovering as well.  We appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and generosity to our family during this very difficult time.  Any remaining funds from this account not utilized by our family will be donated to St Jude to help other families that may be in need.  Thank you so much!  Stephanie and Scott Schuster.