I’m 7 years old, super sassy, and I LOVE pink, rainbows, dresses, makeup, crafts, and shoes. I’m a total girly girl… but I will also jump straight into a mud puddle if I feel like it (even in my fancy dress).

My story started the summer of 2023, my head started hurting and then the day after my 5th birthday I got a really bad headache and started seeing funny red spots everywhere. My mom packed a little bag and took me straight to the Children's hospital in Pittsburgh.

The doctors let me watch movies while they took pictures of my brain (that part was cool). Later, they told my mom they found something on the right side of my brain, they called other doctors in to come talk to my mom, I had to get other tests and I didn't like them, they put a needle in my back (lumbar puncher) to see if that gave them any answers, it didn't. I stayed in the hospital for a whole week and met every kind of doctor ever. There were so many in my room that sometimes I told them all to leave and sit on the doctor couches so I could rest.

Mommy stayed with me the whole time, and Daddy drove back and forth to see me and brought my big brother Liam to visit. He’s 10 and my biggest supporter, when we’re not fighting like normal siblings.

So many people prayed for me and sent me toys, crafts, balloons, and sweet notes. That made me smile a LOT.  

Even after lots of tests, the doctors still didn’t know what was wrong, and my head kept hurting every day. I had medicine that made me feel weird and not very sassy and that was no fun. My mom took me to another Children's Hospital in Pennsylvania, but they called me a "complicated case" and told my mom to take me back to Pittsburgh for them to help me. They weren't very nice. 

In December of 2023 I had to have a brain biopsy, and they took a piece out to test it, the doctor didn't get a very good piece, and they didn't get any answers from that either! 
The doctors told my mom that I just had migraines, and I would probably grow out of it. She didn't like having to give me pain medication every day for my headaches, she knew something else was going on just kept going. She researched and found a doctor really far away that a lot of other people loved. She emailed him and he called her right away, she couldn't believe how fast he got back to her or how personable he was right off the bat. He told my mom she was right, I didn't just have migraines, and I wouldn't grow out of this. He said from looking at my MRI scans that he believed I had a diffuse glioma in my brain. He scheduled us to come to Tennessee and have another brain surgery. ugh. I didn't really want to, but I knew my mom was only trying to make the headaches go away. 

A few weeks later, me, mom and dad flew to Memphis and met him. Dr. Klimo actually listened, not just to my mom but to me, he asked me how I felt and helped me understand what was going on. He answered all my questions and made me feel brave. I did roll my eyes when he wanted a picture with me… haha.

He took a larger piece of my brain out and we finally got answers.

I have Diffuse Astrocytoma, which is a rare kind of brain cancer....yes you read that right, not migraines....CANCER.

Dr. Klimo is a brain surgeon at St. Jude hospital, so he presented my case to their tumor board, and they accepted me! I started a trial for a new kind of chemo that could help my cancer go away! 
We moved to Memphis for a few months so they drs at St. Jude could make sure the medication didn't make me sick and was working.
I took the chemo for a little over a year, but it didn't work the way we had hoped, and it made other parts of my body start to feel sick, so I had to stop taking it in April of 2025. We go back every few months to see my friends, while there I have to get more tests, scans and talk to way too many drs. I just want to play with my friends and hand out Sparkle Boxes! 

My mommy says sharing my story might help another kid get help for their headaches, and that makes me feel really important. 

Thanks for being here and cheering me on.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I’m walking toward it with sass, sparkles, and strength.