Mariah’s medical journey began when she was just 8 months old. At a check-up with her pediatrician on December 21st, they noticed her head circumference was off the charts. She was sent straight to St. Charles in Bend for an MRI’ and from there, she was life flighted to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland.
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nA massive brain tumor was discovered and on December 23rd she underwent an 11-hour surgery to remove it. Mariah was in the pediatric ICU for 3 weeks. During that time her family learned that the tumor was cancerous.
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nMariah had ependymoma cancer. It was a primary central nervous system tumor they had removed, and she needed to begin 2 months of chemotherapy.
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nMariah would also need proton radiation and that would need to happen at a hospital in Seattle or at St. Jude’s hospital in Tennessee. Her family moved to Memphis temporarily.
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nMariah has completed the radiation treatment and 6 weeks of high-dose chemotherapy. She is recovering from that and will soon have follow-up MRI’s. The family is hoping to be back home in Oregon by the end of the year.
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nIn the future Mariah will begin physical therapy and speech therapy. There is a possibility of some hearing loss due to the chemotherapy.
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nMariah is a happy little girl despite all she has gone through. She can hold on to things, stand on her own and will be walking soon. She loves her family’ and her puppy Rowdy.
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nMariah will be adopted as a Sparrow to Pacific Crest Middle School. Pacific Crest students will work hard to raise money for Mariah through sponsored community service.