For those of you who don't know Gavin's story, it began the week before Thanksgiving 2017. The short version is this....
On the morning of Thanksgiving we brought Gavin for his second trip to Nemours Emergency department after not feeling well for 6 days, it was thought we were dealing with anything from constipation, to Lyme Disease to Meningitis, never in our wildest nightmare did we think we would be dealt what was about to come.
Gavin was diagnosed with a Pineal Gland Tumor, which was blocking his cerebral fluid from draining from his brain cavity. On Thanksgiving evening, he underwent an emergency drain placement to relieve the hydrocephalus that was causing his symptoms, Saturday morning he underwent surgery to create a new pathway for the blocked fluid to drain from. A few short weeks later we would be handed another blow in finding out the tumor continued to grow, despite the nasty Chemo that was being thrown at it. We would ultimately travel to CHOP for surgery and return to finish his treatment at Nemours.
Gavin's tumor has been defined as a Non Germinomatous Germ Cell Tumor (NGGCT for short), the journey included 1 round of Chemo, upon discovering the tumor continued to grow, enter Dr. Storm who amazingly removed 100% of Gavin's Tumor, now defined as a growing teratoma with malignant parts as well, Gavin continued on and completed another 5 rounds of Chemo and 30 Radiation treatments.
Nemours, Chateau DuPont as I lovingly called it, would be our home for more than 60 overnight stays, all of which included every major holiday of 2017/2018 up until Easter. All of those stays included visits from Child Life, the occasional pet therapy, endless 'gift carts', balloons, and support from the amazing staff at Nemours.
We are at the end of this chapter of Gavin's newly written novel, there will be many other chapters to come in the future as Gavin will need care and support the rest of his life, he has 6 more years to go under Nemours roof, but there are many others just starting to write their stories that need the support and will for many years to come!
I never thought about what a $25 donation would provide for the hundres of kids staying at Nemours, until Gavin was in fact one of this kids, and we were 'one of those families'. Please consider donating anything you can, every little bit helps!