Abby Teasdale

After months of headaches, vomiting and weight loss, which we thought were from migraines, we met with Abby's pediatrician to discuss her symptoms in more detail.  After a neurological exam in the office, we were sent to the emergency department for an MRI.  We soon realized that something more serious was going on.  On December 7, 2018, we were told that Abby had a brain tumor.  We were devastated.  Abby was immediately admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Golisano's Children's Hospital.  Over the next several days, Abby was subjected to numerous neurological tests as the tumor was pressing on her pituitary gland and optic nerve.  We learned that Abby was losing her peripheral vision and had a significant amount of fluid building up in her brain.  We were told that she needed a shunt to relieve the pressure in her brain.  On December 10th, Abby underwent surgery to place the shunt and to take a biopsy of the tumor.  When the pathology report came back, it was confirmed that she had Pilocytic Astrocytoma.   This is a rare, slow-growing brain tumor. The tumor is inoperable due to its location in the brain.  We met with the pediatric oncologist and a radiation oncologist and it was determined that the best course of treatment is chemotherapy.  We brought Abby to the Pediatric Oncology Department at Golisano's Children's Hospital where we met with Dr. Korones, who will be her doctor throughout this journey.   Dr. Korones and his staff are amazing and really make it about Abby and her comfort during the treatments.  On December 31st, Abby had a mediport placed in her chest to allow the doctors to draw blood and administer chemotherapy without the need for an IV every time.   Abby has a nurse come to the house on Wednesdays to do labs and her chemotherapy treatments are on Thursdays.  Abby had her first treatment on January 17th and her treatments will continue for 60 long  weeks.    The outpouring of support has been amazing.  I will continue to keep this site as updated as possible as I know so many of you are on this journey with us.