Henry's Challenge

On Saturday, October 13th, our day started very normally, on our way to a soccer game for Sophie. Before the game started, however, Henry could not keep his balance and in fact, fell to the ground unable to walk.

We took Henry immediately to the Washington County Emergency Room where he was diagnosed with a mass in his cerebellum, his coordination center. This tumor was disrupting the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and causing his imbalance.

An ambulance was sent from Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. Tara and Henry rode down together with me following after a brief visit home for essentials. We met Sunday with the neurosurgeon, who, after an MRI, gave us several prospective outcomes based on the likelihood of each. The first of these was confirmed several days later by a visit by oncology - Henry has a medulloblastoma of high-risk nature.

The tumor was approximately 90% resected (removed) but had disseminated along the spine through the cerebrospinal fluid. We spent several days in the hospital with Henry with the support of close family and friends who cared for us and our children during this difficult week. Henry is now able to walk again without disorientation. He has some visual deficit that should be corrected over time with minimal treatment and is a bit unsteady, requiring a hand to walk, but is improving with each step.

Our road ahead is uncertain and scary. We expect chemotherapy and radiation therapy over the course of many months. It has only been a week since we've discovered Henry's challenge. The weeks to come will tell us much more.

Finally - to those who've been our support recently - Thank you. This is something we will be unable to do alone and you've all made it clear we won't have to.

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