Video Pictures 1-50 51-100 Karlie's Story Wellness Fund
From Karlies Mom:
I hope this journal will help will help other families who are going through what we are going through. This is the story of our beautiful daughter Karlie. Karlie is a very independent, 3 year old girl, who up to this point, has been very healthy her whole life. She makes her own sandwiches, loves to ride her 4 wheeler, paint her finger nails, dance, play with her animals and loves to terrorize her 2 year old brother Brody. She has very high energy level, very full of life. Karlie's smile and laugh are infectious.
Around the time Karlie was 2.5 years old we began to have difficulties with her anger. I assumed it was the age and having to compete with a little brother and very busy parents. Concerned with her behavior I sought counseling for Karlie and I. We had been under a lot of pressure with two small kids, a business and helping with my Grandma that has dementia.
Late April we went to
Looking back there were signs that something was wrong. Her gate was different. She wandered and tripped over her own feet. She was having problems with her eyes. The appeared to be crossing and very light sensitive. Looking back at our pictures we noticed Karlie is not always looking at you. In fact she would turn her head to the side when looking at you.
We arrived home from Disneyland that Sunday. By Tuesday Karlie began to vomiting violently. At first we thought maybe she had the flu. But the vomiting continued every 15 minutes all night long. I called our Doctor and made an appointment. The following day though Karlie was unable to stand or walk and her eyes appeared to be crossed. We took her to the Doctors office, they immediately sent us to the emergency room.
They took Karlie's vitals and ordered a CAT scan. The Doctor called us into his office and told Dave and I to sit down. They found a mass in Karlie's brain and were flying her immediately to Children’s Hospital in Oakland. After arriving at Children’s hospital they ordered a MRI. Karlie was diagnosed with a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glomma. Generic name-Brain steam gloom. It is inoperable and deadly due to its location in the part of the brain called the pons. This is the part in the brain that controls your breathing, your heart and your digestive system along with all systems for your basic living.
The tumor and pons are like two balls of yarn tangled together; which makes it impossible to operate on. We were told Karlie had 2 months to live without treatments and as much as 12 months to live with treatments. Please keep in mind that the tumor wasn't the reason we even noticed what was going on, it was due to the swelling in her brain. The tumor had gotten so big; it blocked the fluid that travels down the spinal cord. The Doctor told us this is when most people come in. There is rarely discomfort with a brain tumor, so no, she can't feel it in there. It is when the other symptoms begin to show. They assume she has had this for 6-12 months, now looking back I feel 7 months. We made it in time for them to relieve the pressure with a shunt and steroids. Now, radiation and chemotherapy are giving us time and helping to shrink the tumor. They are telling us this is the only treatment, which will buy her time. We have been praying for a miracle, we can not accept we will lose her in our life time, especially in less than 12 months. We have a long difficult road ahead but we are prepared for it with allot of love from our family and friends.
All we ask for is for people to pray and believe without a doubt that a miracle and it will happen. We thank everybody for there support and prayers.
Karlie will be a Grandma some day.