David was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma in August 2022. 

It all started when he was vomiting and he tested positive for strep throat twice in the same month. A few days later, he started walking off balanced and his mother took him to the emergency room where he was discharged with a viral infection. A blood culture was taken in the emergency room and the doctor called back the next day stating that the culture came back positive. David needed to be admitted to the hospital where he would need an IV of antibiotics to recover. During his inpatient stay, the blood culture was ran again and it was determined that the initial culture was a cross contamination and David did not have bacteria in his blood. A neurologist visited David during his stay and requested an MRI on his brain and spine. An hour into the scan, the doctors found a golf ball size tumor in his brain that also spread to his spine. 

His father was deployed on active duty orders and was flown home during David's 9 hour surgery. His father purchased wifi on the plane so he could receive updates during the surgery. 

David had a near total resection of the tumor. He had a 2nd surgery where a burr hole was created to help his fluid drain correctly. This created temporary paralysis of the left side of his body. He was in a wheel chair for about 2 months until he was able to gain movement and strength again. David received 6 weeks of Proton Beam Therapy at CHOP and 6 inpatient cycles of chemotherapy. He was declared no evidence of disease in June 2023. David currently gets MRIs every 3 months to ensure there is no regrowth. 

David has some side effects from his treatments. He has hearing loss. He still has left side weakness and attends weekly therapy sessions to regain his strength. He also wears orthopedic braces due to foot drop. 

Regardless of all of this, David has continued to stay positive. His nickname was Smiley in all of the hospitals. No matter how sick he was feeling, he always made others happy and that's a lot to say for just a 4 year old that was just diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer. 

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

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