Jake's journey with craniopharyngioma

At the age of nine Jake started having persistent headaches, vomiting, weight loss, vision problem, and increased moodiness. His mother took him to his primary doctor where she was told that it seemed to be a behavioral problem.  His mother was persistent that what he was experiencing was more than just behavior problems. In August 2014 Jake's mother took him into the Emergency Department because his vision was getting worse. The hospital referred them to a Neurologist who ordered an MRI which showed that he had a mass on his pituitary gland and hydrocephalus. So Jake's journey began and he went for his first craniotomy with debulking/ decompression on August 26 2014. Pathology results confirmed his diagnosis of craniopharyngioma . The tumors placement put Jake at risk for endocrine issues. He was closely followed by Endocrinology because he developed hypothyroidism, growth hormone deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency. His next step was to receive radiation therapy from 3/18/15 through 4/29/15. 

Jake continued to lose weight, have poor appetite, with intermittent nausea. In June 2016 he was brought to the ED and imagining showed significant reoccurrence. He was taken for emergency surgery and they revised his catheter. The team needed to come up with a new plan to help Jake beat his tumor. So the next step was for Jake to recieved 12 planned doses of intracystic interferon per the hospital sick kids protocol from 2/20/17 to 3/17/17. After this his tumor remained stable until his check up imaging in 5/2019. His imaging showed a significant increase in his tumor. 

Jake will now be traveling from South Texas to a specialist in New York in hopes that this doctor will be able to do a complete resection of the tumor. Meaning that hopefully this time they will be able to remove the whole tumor for good this time. 

The donation collected will go towards helping pay for the hospital bills, lodging while in new york and any other necessities that are needed. This way Lamar can focus her energy on her son instead of the added worries of bills. Please send prayers and positive thoughts.