Viviana' Brain Cancer Treatment Fund

On August 6th, 2017 our daughter Viviana was diagnosed with grade 3 ependymoma, a rare brain cancer.  Completely in shock and in question of why is this happening to our baby girl?  From that moment our lives have been completely changed forever. 

Viviana is a beautiful little sister to Vittoria and a wonderful daughter full of energy, happiness and joy but this diagnosis explains her behavior in comparision to Vittoria as far back as September 2016.  It started when Viviana was giving us difficulty drinking her milk and was diagnosed with reflux.  Even though the doctor prescribed  prevacid for the reflux the difficulty persisted.  The only way we would be able to get her to drink was by placing her in the high chair at a reclined position.

Viviana would not sleep in her crib, she would cry and cry and refused to lay down.  We would rock her in our arms to have her fall asleep but as soon as we would lay her in the crib she would instantaneously wake up hysterically crying.  The only way Viviana would sleep comfortably was either in the rocker, car seat or in our arms.

Now looking back we realize that every time Viviana was crying she would also be playing with her curly hair and pulling at her ear.  She was trying to tell us her head was bothering her but we never realized it.  So young so helpless she couldn't describe her pain any other way, we just thought her personality was different from her older sister but this was all due to an undiagnosed brain tumor.

On August 5th, 2017 we rushed Viviana to the emergency room because she was dehydrated due to excessive vomiting all week.  She was admitted and put on IV to rehydrate her.  The morning of the 6th the doctors at Winthrop requested a CT scan of her brain.  When the results came back it showed a mass in her head and hydrocephalus.  We were then immediately moved to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) and an MRI was performed.  The MRI showed a mass the size of a ping pong ball.

On August 7th she was in surgery and the doctor was able to fully resect the tumor.  Relieved and excited thinking that is all that needed to be done and she would just need to recover from surgery, we were told she still had a long road of treatment ahead.  We were informed that she must undergo a specialized radiation treatment called Proton Beam Therapy.

With no Proton facilities in the local area we will be relocating to Boston in a few weeks.  Viviana will be receiving treatment 5 days a week for 6 weeks.

Since August 5th my wife has not worked and cannot return until Viviana's treatment is completed.  Since she stop working this has taken a financial hardship on our lives.

All donations will help Viviana with her medical bills, relocation expenses in Boston for 6 weeks, the additional expense of the Proton Beam Therapy and raise awareness for Childhood Cancer.  All proceeds will be donated to the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation.

We are extremely grateful for your generosity and appreciate any amount you are able to donate on behalf of Viviana Mortillaro and her battle against childhood cancer. 

Please keep her in your prayers and help us spread the word by sharing her campaign with your friends and family with a link on your Facebook Timeline.