Julia Cancer Fund
Donation protected
Tomorrow is never promised. We hear that all the time but take for granted the true meaning behind it. We blow past all the little things in life & neglect to see the beauty / joy in what’s right in front of us. Every day is a blessing, and no one knows that truer than 18-year-old Julia Moser.
On May 19th of 2018, Julia woke up with a severe headache. Her father took her to urgent care where they gave her some medication for a migraine. They also mentioned, that you could be that 1% of people who has something more serious and you may want to stop by a hospital. She went to the ER and they did a CT scan that revealed a severe brain bleed. At that point she was rushed in an ambulance to a larger hospital that could perform emergency brain surgery to remove half her skull to relieve the pressure. Immediately after surgery she was placed in a helicopter and flown to a hospital that specializes in strokes. Fast forward a couple days and Julia wakes up from a 3 day coma on a hospital bed in Phoenix, Arizona at the Barrow Neurological Institute. She had breathing tubes in place, neck brace, IV & had trouble speaking. I’ll never forget the fear in her eyes when she woke up, confused and wondering where & why she was there.. She was in stable condition after this, but the cause behind the brain bleed was unknown... and that was very worrisome.
The doctors ran numerous tests for days, trying to determine the cause of the bleed, but they could not. The did however determine the bleed stopped & decided after some time to release her back home to the care of her family. Although she was now back home, she was still missing her “bone flap”. The doctors needed to wait for the swelling of the brain / skull to go down before they could replace the bone flap, which protects the brain. For 5 months Julia had to live life wearing a medical helmet to protect her brain. It’s kind of similar to the “soft spot” in the head of an infant, a vulnerable spot.
Finally, on October 13th, the day came that they could replace the bone flap… or so we thought. The doctors mistakenly decided the brain & skull were good to operate on, so they took her in. Upon surgery, the doctors realized they made a mistake. The skull was still too swollen, and the bone flap would not fit in place, so they installed a shunt (drain) instead. Brain surgery is not to be taken lightly, when you have a person’s head cut open and their brain exposed, it’s very susceptible to infection. So, the doctors mistake in decision making was very risky and discouraging for us that they did that, after all, this was an 8 hour surgery she had to endure. On October 27th, the cranioplasty was attempted again, another 8 hour surgery with the same result, they could not get the bone back in. The doctors told her that they would have to wait a couple more months until they swelling went down and then try again.
Time went on and Julia tried to return to a normal life for a 17 year old girl with half her skull missing, she returned to work at Chucky Cheese, and was attending school for her senior year. Graduating was, and still is very important to her. On November 18th 2019, Julia was at work when she started to feel odd. She could not find her words to speak, and the right side of her body was numb and getting to the point where she could not move it. She called her father and he could barely understand her but knew she was in trouble. He raced to her work, got her in the truck and rushed her to the hospital where they performed the initial surgery. It was determined that she had another brain bleed. This time around the doctors looked more closely at the scans from that day as well as the ones taken back in May and June of 2018. It was determined that a tumor the size of a pea was missed originally and now it had grown to just slightly smaller than a tennis ball.
On Thanksgiving day, November 22nd 2019, Julia had her 4th brain surgery to remove the tumor and sent it for testing... this was where things took a turn for the worse. Testing came back and it was determined the tumor was cancerous, and Julia was diagnosed with a rare, incurable Stage 4 Glioblastoma. Glioblastoma usually stays within the brain and spinal column. Hers has spread throughout her bones and body. It has not been determined how this has happened, whether the shunt has carried it from her brain to her stomach and into her bloodstream or some other way.
After we all came to terms with the devastating news, treatment for the cancer had to begin... quick. Julia underwent six weeks of chemo & radiation to help try & kill the cancer. She suffered from hair loss and was forced to shave her head. Radiation exposure makes the body feel weak and tired and Julia found herself spending lots of time resting in bed, missing out on school & the life an ordinary teenager deserves to experience.
The radiation was successful in holding the cancer at bay in her brain and spine, but unsuccessful in eliminating it. The chemo she had taken seems to have had little or no effect. Julia has more radiation scheduled for the future & doctors are scrambling trying to find a cure that can work to treat this rare form of cancer. The chemo that is supposed to work on the brain will not work on the body and vice versa. The two have never been combined to be used at the same time and could be toxic for her.
Despite all the horrible events that took place in Julia’s young life, she’s remained extremely positive, strong & optimistic. She puts her trust in God and knows that with she will beat this thing. She is an extremely brave & beautiful young woman and an inspiration to many.
The pain of cancer is also felt amongst close family members. Cancer requires lots of planning & scheduling of doctor’s appointments, sometimes up to 5+ visits a week. These appointments are all over town and during the weekday, so it requires the person helping get you there (in this case her father) take a lot of time off work and cost’s lots in gas and wear & tear on your vehicle. It has been a very difficult time for all of us, but we are sticking together & staying strong. One day at a time as they say.
We organized this Go-Fund me to seek help from others to assist in our journey to find a cure. Time is limited, since her form of cancer is so rare, we are forced to seek out of state help to find experienced doctors. The fund will also assist in everyday life expenses like bills, gas, food & more for this search. Donations are not expected from anybody but extremely appreciated and if you cannot donate, we appreciate you please share this story.
We strongly believe that finding a cure for her disease will not only be a blessing to her, but any other person who could someday receive the same devastating statement from the doctors saying “ I’m sorry to inform you, but you have a rare form of Gliobastoma stage 4 cancer that we have never seen before, therefore we have no cure”.
To anyone reading this, if you have any way to help, whether to be donations or have an experienced doctor in mind / treatment or cure, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. You may send us an email at: [email redacted] with any questions or ideas.
We thank you for taking the time to read this and ask you to keep Julia and her fight with cancer in your prayers. She is the most genuine young woman who wouldn’t hurt a housefly. The fact this has happened to her is extremely unfair but has opened all our eyes to the reality of tomorrow is never promised. God Bless.
On May 19th of 2018, Julia woke up with a severe headache. Her father took her to urgent care where they gave her some medication for a migraine. They also mentioned, that you could be that 1% of people who has something more serious and you may want to stop by a hospital. She went to the ER and they did a CT scan that revealed a severe brain bleed. At that point she was rushed in an ambulance to a larger hospital that could perform emergency brain surgery to remove half her skull to relieve the pressure. Immediately after surgery she was placed in a helicopter and flown to a hospital that specializes in strokes. Fast forward a couple days and Julia wakes up from a 3 day coma on a hospital bed in Phoenix, Arizona at the Barrow Neurological Institute. She had breathing tubes in place, neck brace, IV & had trouble speaking. I’ll never forget the fear in her eyes when she woke up, confused and wondering where & why she was there.. She was in stable condition after this, but the cause behind the brain bleed was unknown... and that was very worrisome.
The doctors ran numerous tests for days, trying to determine the cause of the bleed, but they could not. The did however determine the bleed stopped & decided after some time to release her back home to the care of her family. Although she was now back home, she was still missing her “bone flap”. The doctors needed to wait for the swelling of the brain / skull to go down before they could replace the bone flap, which protects the brain. For 5 months Julia had to live life wearing a medical helmet to protect her brain. It’s kind of similar to the “soft spot” in the head of an infant, a vulnerable spot.
Finally, on October 13th, the day came that they could replace the bone flap… or so we thought. The doctors mistakenly decided the brain & skull were good to operate on, so they took her in. Upon surgery, the doctors realized they made a mistake. The skull was still too swollen, and the bone flap would not fit in place, so they installed a shunt (drain) instead. Brain surgery is not to be taken lightly, when you have a person’s head cut open and their brain exposed, it’s very susceptible to infection. So, the doctors mistake in decision making was very risky and discouraging for us that they did that, after all, this was an 8 hour surgery she had to endure. On October 27th, the cranioplasty was attempted again, another 8 hour surgery with the same result, they could not get the bone back in. The doctors told her that they would have to wait a couple more months until they swelling went down and then try again.
Time went on and Julia tried to return to a normal life for a 17 year old girl with half her skull missing, she returned to work at Chucky Cheese, and was attending school for her senior year. Graduating was, and still is very important to her. On November 18th 2019, Julia was at work when she started to feel odd. She could not find her words to speak, and the right side of her body was numb and getting to the point where she could not move it. She called her father and he could barely understand her but knew she was in trouble. He raced to her work, got her in the truck and rushed her to the hospital where they performed the initial surgery. It was determined that she had another brain bleed. This time around the doctors looked more closely at the scans from that day as well as the ones taken back in May and June of 2018. It was determined that a tumor the size of a pea was missed originally and now it had grown to just slightly smaller than a tennis ball.
On Thanksgiving day, November 22nd 2019, Julia had her 4th brain surgery to remove the tumor and sent it for testing... this was where things took a turn for the worse. Testing came back and it was determined the tumor was cancerous, and Julia was diagnosed with a rare, incurable Stage 4 Glioblastoma. Glioblastoma usually stays within the brain and spinal column. Hers has spread throughout her bones and body. It has not been determined how this has happened, whether the shunt has carried it from her brain to her stomach and into her bloodstream or some other way.
After we all came to terms with the devastating news, treatment for the cancer had to begin... quick. Julia underwent six weeks of chemo & radiation to help try & kill the cancer. She suffered from hair loss and was forced to shave her head. Radiation exposure makes the body feel weak and tired and Julia found herself spending lots of time resting in bed, missing out on school & the life an ordinary teenager deserves to experience.
The radiation was successful in holding the cancer at bay in her brain and spine, but unsuccessful in eliminating it. The chemo she had taken seems to have had little or no effect. Julia has more radiation scheduled for the future & doctors are scrambling trying to find a cure that can work to treat this rare form of cancer. The chemo that is supposed to work on the brain will not work on the body and vice versa. The two have never been combined to be used at the same time and could be toxic for her.
Despite all the horrible events that took place in Julia’s young life, she’s remained extremely positive, strong & optimistic. She puts her trust in God and knows that with she will beat this thing. She is an extremely brave & beautiful young woman and an inspiration to many.
The pain of cancer is also felt amongst close family members. Cancer requires lots of planning & scheduling of doctor’s appointments, sometimes up to 5+ visits a week. These appointments are all over town and during the weekday, so it requires the person helping get you there (in this case her father) take a lot of time off work and cost’s lots in gas and wear & tear on your vehicle. It has been a very difficult time for all of us, but we are sticking together & staying strong. One day at a time as they say.
We organized this Go-Fund me to seek help from others to assist in our journey to find a cure. Time is limited, since her form of cancer is so rare, we are forced to seek out of state help to find experienced doctors. The fund will also assist in everyday life expenses like bills, gas, food & more for this search. Donations are not expected from anybody but extremely appreciated and if you cannot donate, we appreciate you please share this story.
We strongly believe that finding a cure for her disease will not only be a blessing to her, but any other person who could someday receive the same devastating statement from the doctors saying “ I’m sorry to inform you, but you have a rare form of Gliobastoma stage 4 cancer that we have never seen before, therefore we have no cure”.
To anyone reading this, if you have any way to help, whether to be donations or have an experienced doctor in mind / treatment or cure, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. You may send us an email at: [email redacted] with any questions or ideas.
We thank you for taking the time to read this and ask you to keep Julia and her fight with cancer in your prayers. She is the most genuine young woman who wouldn’t hurt a housefly. The fact this has happened to her is extremely unfair but has opened all our eyes to the reality of tomorrow is never promised. God Bless.
Fundraising team: Julia's Helpers (2)
Jack Weger
Organizer
Tucson, AZ
Russ Moser
Beneficiary
Steve Leitz
Team member
