Isabelle was first diagnosed with medulloblastoma at eight years old in August of 2021. At that time, she faced headaches and vomiting that led her family to seek answers. After surgery, 30 rounds of proton therapy, and four rounds of chemotherapy, she was cancer-free for nearly three and a half years.
Just two days ago, her family received the unexpected news that Isabelle’s latest MRI shows a new tumor, a relapse with no symptoms leading up to it. The path ahead is uncertain, and her family is preparing for what comes next.
During her initial treatment, her family had to make enormous sacrifices. Isabelle’s mom spent nearly seven months away from her other two children while she received care in San Diego. Their lives have been forever changed by her diagnosis, and although they try to live each day to the fullest, the news of this relapse has left them devastated.
Isabelle’s personality shines through even in the hardest moments. She is hilarious, blunt, and refreshingly honest, saying exactly what she thinks. She loves playing Cookie Run Kingdom, singing, and spending time with her friends and little sister. Her spirit is bold, her heart is brave, and she has a resilience beyond her years.
Her family hopes to capture these moments with family photos, knowing that Isabelle still has a long, hard fight ahead, but believing that if anyone can face it, it is her.
Ashton was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2023. Her journey began when her family took her to the ER for a CT scan, which revealed a tumor. Just two days later, she underwent a 12-hour brain surgery, followed by a second surgery. Since then, Ashton has endured long-term posterior fossa syndrome, ovarian tissue preservation in hopes of becoming a mother one day, six weeks of radiation, and is now completing eight rounds of chemotherapy.
Before her diagnosis, Ashton began experiencing dizziness when standing, which progressed into severe headaches, lethargy, and vomiting. The first ER visit resulted in a migraine diagnosis, but two weeks later, a second visit and CT scan confirmed what her family feared—something was seriously wrong. She was rushed to Cincinnati Children’s ICU, where her fight began.
Ashton now faces limitations due to long-term posterior fossa syndrome. This has caused challenges with walking and balance, speech difficulties, learning delays, and cognitive struggles. Despite these challenges, she faces each day with incredible strength.
Her treatments and procedures have been extensive, and her family has faced financial strain from household bills and groceries while caring for Ashton. Life for their family has changed forever. Living in the hospital, managing four other daughters at home, and navigating the emotional toll of this diagnosis has been overwhelming. But through it all, Ashton’s resilience has brought her family closer together. Her sisters are fiercely protective of her, and their bond is stronger than ever.
Ashton has a heart of gold. She is loving, thoughtful, and always puts others before herself. She loves makeup, doing her skincare routine, and anything creative. Crafting is one of her favorite things, and her sisters make her laugh the most.
Ashton is an inspiration for her strength and courage. She refuses to let cancer define her and continues to face every challenge with grace and compassion for others.
In the fall of 2023, Eve suffered random bouts of sickness, but without any fever and always recovered almost immediately. She saw her pcp a few times because of all this but there were no immediate concerns. It was when her gait changed and her balance became a bit unstable that her doctor then felt she should have some imaging done.
Eve had a full tumor resection, followed by 6 weeks of radiation and she is now unseeing chemo, with a few more cycles left. Eve’s energy can be impacted hugely after a chemo session, at these times school hasn’t been possible, or outings if her immune system is very low.
For the most part, we try to just get on with life and keep it as ‘normal’ as possible for everyone. However, our calendar is now a series of weekly medical/therapy appointments. As Eve is special needs, this can be very taxing on her as she doesn’t fully understand what is going on and she is not always able to express how she is feeling or what she needs. This can be very frustrating for her. Her older brothers have been brilliant in helping her through this time with their patience and the time they give her by playing with her, taking her out for walks or just hanging with her!
Eve is a little live wire who always manages to get her point across despite her language limitations! She is feisty and strong-willed, hugely affectionate, and always happy to be the joker and enjoy a laugh!
Margot is mischievous, silly, and affectionate. She loves playing and wrestling with her older brother, reading books, watching animals (especially birds), going to playgrounds, and especially slides. She loves her family.
She was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in August of 2023. She was vomiting, having headaches, and reverted to cruising instead of walking independently.
She underwent surgery to remove the main tumor from the back of her brain, then significant rehab to regain the functions lost as a result of this surgery. She then had chemotherapy which was ultimately ineffective.
Every part of her treatment has been a struggle – severe side effects that kept her in the hospital for five-plus months, one parent had to give up their job, questionable ethics, and accountability from surgeons & hospital.
In the summer of 2022, Charlotte was throwing up daily for about 2 months, we were being evaluated by GI with no answers. She then started having really bad headaches and was not eating very much of anything. She had a seizure and we went into the ED for evaluation. There we had a CT that showed a 4x4x6 cm tumor on her cerebellum. She had not been able to walk very well by herself, which we had attributed to weakness from not eating. Now we realize that was part of the tumor effect as the cerebellum is the center for your balance and coordination.
The day she was diagnosed, she was emergently intubated and had a drain placed to relieve the pressure in her head. The next day, she had a tumor resection and then had 3 weeks of rehab afterward where she essentially learned how to walk again. She has been through 4 cycles of chemo. Each cycle is at least 28 days. Half of them take place almost entirely in the hospital, so Charlotte and I live in the hospital for a month at a time. She has had countless platelet and blood transfusions, CT scans, medications, and lab draws. She has a central line as well as a G-tube and she gets her nutrition and medications through the G-tube.
Our biggest struggle as a family is not being able to be together while we have our long cycles in the hospital. Our first hospitalization was from Aug 29-October 25 and our last one was exactly a month long. We can’t be together for weeks at a time, and during those times, my son can’t see his sister as he is not allowed in the hospital due to visitor restrictions. When we are home, there is more of a sense of normalcy, and we find that we are appreciating each other and being together so much more.
God has been at the center of our entire story. He has been so good to us throughout her fight. The tumor was so large, that the neurosurgeon remarked multiple times on its size of it. He had prepped us for a several-hour surgery but was done in less than an hour because it was able to come out in almost one entire piece. Then, our oncologist believed that her cancer subtype was one of the more aggressive (and less responsive to chemo) types based on the initial pathology, but after the final results came back, it unexpectedly ended up being a very responsive subtype. Finally, she had to have a stem cell collection for an auto-transplant during her last extremely high-dose chemo cycle (she will get back her own stem cells to allow her to tolerate the high-dose chemo). Our transplant doctor thought we might get less than half of what we needed (thought we would get 1 million, but needed 2 million). We ended up getting twice the amount we needed (4 million), thanks to the kindness and skill of a wonderful nurse and the prayers of so many people around Charlotte. We are hopeful that God is able to use the struggles that she and our family are going through, as well as his many mercies and miracles, to bring others to Christ.
