Adita is a smart, caring, healthy, and sweet child who loves school and has a very loving relationship with her little brother, Mario. Her life forever changed in November 2017 when she started her pediatric brain tumor journey.
A few weeks before her diagnosis, she started to vomit a lot for no clear reason, but she would recover fast in minutes. In her dance classes she started struggling with her coordination and direction. Clearly something was wrong, but her family didn’t know what.
Her mother Ada took her to the pediatrician, who said to immediately rush to the hospital. Adita and Ada were transported via ambulance and an hour later she was having an MRI. After another hour passed, doctors shared that Adita had a tumor behind her brain near her cerebellum, and her possibility of having medulloblastoma was very high.
The next day she had a shunt placement, a week later a resection, and then continued through a year of procedures, testing, labs, treatments, and hospital admissions.
“She returned to school, but as a totally different child,” shared Ada. “She’s struggling to accept her new life, but she’s a tender and incredibly mature girl. We are still fighting this unpredictable and silent ghost.”
Children with brain cancer can’t wait another week, another day, another minute for your support. When you donate to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, you help fund life-changing research and provide families with the resources and support they need. Don’t let pediatric brain cancer steal another future.
Adita has always dreamt of being a dancer and policewoman. She has started to accept that because of her posterior fossa syndrome, her balance may be an issue, but she is an idealist and wants to protect people and fight for injustices. She admires the character of Felicie from the movie LEAP because she was an orphan and fought against everything to become a ballet dancer and one day dance in Paris. Just like Felicie, Adita hopes to one day reach her dreams of being a dancer despite her diagnosis.
Adita and her family heard about the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation through research about family support resources and are thrilled to have a community that understands the intricacies of a brain tumor diagnosis. Our survivorship research guidebook and virtual family support groups have also helped their entire family continue to navigate their journey.
If your child has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation is here for your family every step of the way. Visit curethekids.org/family-resources to explore the family support we offer or connect with our team directly by filling out our Family Connection Form.
My brain tumor experience is something I think about every day of my life, but the outside world likes to erase that and pretend it didn’t happen. It’s too “taboo” or “uncomfortable.” So, this year, on the 7th anniversary of my surgery, I want to talk about it.
In June 2018, Valentina was diagnosed with a pediatric low-grade glioma with a BRAF mutation. At the time, she was only one year old. Surgery was not an option, so her family had two choices for treatment—traditional chemotherapy or an experimental treatment suitable for her type of mutation.
Combining her love for reading and desire to give back to help kids with brain tumors like her, Zoe created Books 4 Brains to raise money for pediatric brain cancer research. Join her upcoming Books 4 Brains read-a-thon and support the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's research funding efforts.
A new bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by Senator Shelley B. Mayer and Assembly Member Christopher Burdick will help remove some of the barriers standing between children with cancer and the learning accommodations they need to succeed in school. The Pediatric Cancer Neuropsychological Needs Assessment Act (NY State S.8750) would require insurers to provide coverage for neuropsychological assessments for children diagnosed with cancer that affects brain development or function.
The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF) is proud to welcome Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, to the PBTF’s Board of Directors. Dr. Gupta will bring his wide-ranging experiences in medical practice and journalism, including as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, associate professor of neurosurgery at the Emory University School of Medicine, and chief medical correspondent for CNN, to bear as a valuable and expert advocate for pediatric brain tumor patients, survivors, and their families.
