I had recently turned sixteen. This was an exciting milestone for me. Getting keys to a car and being able to drive to and from school was a huge responsibility but one I had eagerly awaited. I was a cheerleader, tennis player, swimmer, involved in youth in government, student government, and piano. I was doing …
Can you guess the year? “Ordinary People” won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Kansas City Royals in the World Series, and “Call Me” by Blondie topped the Billboard Top 40 charts. And that same year I was diagnosed and treated for a benign pituitary tumor. It all started during …
by Caitlyn Witte Christmas Day of the year 2006, was approaching, and the excitement that always lingers prior to December 25, was surging through my every vein. We had already picked out a towering Christmas tree that filled the house with that pine tree scent commonly associated with the holiday. In my ideal world, I …
In February 2005, our 13 year old son Matthew, a healthy soccer player and swimmer, started complaining of a major headache that was keeping him up at night and leaving him exhausted in the morning. Within ten days, we made three visits to our pediatrician. On the third visit, an MRI was ordered, and a …
It was September 2003. Our son Ryan, 13, was playing catch in the backyard with his Dad; he loved to play baseball and had just completed playing with a travel team that summer. He complained of some light double vision which seemed to come and go, so we made an appointment with the optometrist. The …
May 4th, 1998: having just completed my own race, I pin a race number for the Fun Run on the front of Logan’s T-shirt. His expression shows both wonderment and excitement, and briefly takes an extra second to register it in my mind. It is an expression everyone should wear just before running a race, …
Christmas vacation had just ended and it was the beginning of a new year, 1993. I was fourteen-years-old, a freshman in high school, and had not been feeling well for some time. However, my physical complaints were quite vague which made it difficult for my pediatrician to identify the problem. Supposedly many things can cause …
All I ever wanted was a healthy child. Justin seemed to be the healthiest of all the nieces and nephews. He had the heartiest appetite, loved sports even as a toddler, and he was even referred to as the “bruiser.” He was such an easy baby. His laid back demeanor, and his warm smile could …
This story is about my daughter Kayleigh. She is currently 12 years old and has been battling a brain tumor, a craniopharyngioma to be exact. It all began in 1999 when Kayleigh’s third grade teacher called to say that she noticed Kayleigh squinting while reading and looking at the blackboard. She suggested an eye exam. …
