Meet Connor Dykes! Connor is a normal six year old who loves to laugh, sing, wrestle with his sister and go to kindergarten! From looking at Connor you can't tell he battled a brain tumor. For a six year old, that is a big battle to go through. Connor was six years old when he started to experience some unusual symptoms. He was throwing up and crying for long periods of times. It just kept getting worse and worse and there was nothing his parents can do about it. Suddenly his left side of his head and his eye start to swell up. This worried his parents so they took him to the hospital in Hudson, Wis. He started to get weaker and paler and started to shake. It started to get so bad they transferred him to an ambulance. His parents couldn't wrap their heads around his severe condition. When they got to the hospital they took a CT scan to determine what was causing his symptoms. The doctor came out to tell the family what was wrong. It turned out that Connor had a Brain Tumor. What was unusual and concerning is that it was the size of an average adult fist. The doctor referred Connor to a neurosurgeon. They had a choice to get emergency surgery or lose their son. It was a risky decision but it needed to be done to save their son. This is really hard for the parents! You can only imagine!
Four and a half hours later, they got the news they have been waiting for. The neurosurgeon told them that they had removed the tumor successfully. He also said that Connor was in a stable condition. Connor and his family was put in the recovery room. Connor finally awoke after a traumatic experience. Sadly, this was just the beginning. Connor was later diagnosed with Stage 4 Multiform Congenital Gliomas. This is very aggressive tumor which means very innovative treatment. Connor went through 5 months of treatment. Then he had a bone marrow transplant. These are not always successful but Connor went through with flying colors. Connor is considered cured! Connor suffered some developmental disabilities. He gets better day by day! The only thing is that he wears hearing aids because it is one of the side effects of the aggressive chemotherapy. Another effect of the aggressive chemo is that he has o wear glasses because of partial blindness in the right eye. These side effects are very common for kids with brain tumors. This is also one of the symptoms of a brain tumor. Connor is a very extraordinary kid and he has been through a lot for his first 6 years!!
Credit to: http://www.childrenscancer.org/main/kids_stories/connors_story_surviving_brain_tumors/
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