The first semester of senior year is usually challenging for high school students, but Jake DeCarolis faced an additional hurdle in September 2015 when what he thought was a headache turned out to be a brain tumor. For the next six months, DeCarolis juggled homework and college applications around surgery and chemotherapy at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s … Read more
Childhood cancer is never easy for a family, and pediatric brain tumors can present a particularly difficult set of medical, cognitive, and physical challenges. Patients may face hearing and vision loss, seizures, learning disabilities, and more. Long after the disease is gone, these issues – and related emotional and social struggles – often remain. It … Read more
A year ago, Aimee Fellows couldn’t imagine being back at Boston Children’s Hospital, awaiting the start of another violin concert featuring her daughter. Sophie, now 10 years old, is dressed this time in a frilly white blouse, black skirt and black dress shoes, her first pair of heels, albeit little more than an inch higher … Read more
As one of the most difficult cancers to treat, childhood brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children under age 10. However, researchers are making more progress than ever before. “Over the last 10 years there has been a lot of excitement about new treatments for pediatric brain tumors,” says Peter Manley, … Read more
Brain tumors are relatively rare for people of any age, but they can occur in both children and adults. In fact, tumors of the spinal cord and brain are the second most common types of cancer in children, after leukemia. But there are some key differences between brain tumors that occur in adults and those … Read more
By Frannie Palmer As a kid, I stumbled on my feet quite a bit. I had to use two hands on the railing while going down stairs. My parents thought I was just a little clumsy. The truth was, a brain tumor was creating pressure on my cerebellum and causing my incoordination. I was 6-years-old … Read more
Every year, about 4,700 children in the United States are diagnosed with brain cancer – making it the most common solid tumor in children. It is also one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children under age 10 and the second leading cause of … Read more
Hilary Olson had no reason to suspect that her daughter Hailey might have a brain tumor.
“Her smile was starting to droop a little, and one of her eyes was a little jumpy,” says the 6-year-old’s mother. “We took her to see a neurologist, and he thought she might have pinched a nerve.
“But when he sent us to Boston Children’s Hospital for an MRI,” she continues, “the radiologists sent us straight down to the emergency room.”