Luke Welch

Welcome to Luke's website. Please leave him a message and keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.





Luke has over the past 3 weeks become increasingly clumsy...and finally realized he didn't want to go down stairs or out to the car, or anything out of fear that he would fall. Treacy and Jim brought him to their pediatrician who ordered an MRI. They went to Children’s Hospital on Friday for that procedure and mom and dad were sent away to have dinner while the MRI took place. No sooner had they sat down when a nurse came to get them...they found something.



It turns out Luke has a ping-pong ball sized tumor at the base of his brain (the cerebellum). The awkwardness and difficulty walking were related to pressure from the fluid that was collecting around the tumor – and the pressure was building fast. They immediately put him into surgery and put a stent in place to release that pressure.



Luke is in pediatric intensive care (PICU) at Children’s Hospital and will be there for some time. He has had a difficult time with the morphine that was being given to him to relieve the pain of the initial surgery Friday night (severe itching and rather agitated) so they are keeping him sedated and comfortable until his surgery.



This is the good news - that the tumor is operable! It looks as if surgery will take place Monday morning at 11 am. His doctor, Dr. Nagib, believes the operation will take many hours and he will remain hospitalized for several days following surgery. Pathology will take about that long as well.



Treacy and Jim are obviously overwhelmed and filled with fear for their little guy. This is that nightmare all parents dread most. They have, however, felt the support of family and friends, and will need that for a while to come. Please consult this website for frequent updates on Luke’s situation. They would, of course, prefer to speak with all their friends directly, but their energy needs to go to Luke and his recovery, and to loving Jack just as much as always. PLEASE send notes of encouragement and love through the website as well, as they’ll look forward to hearing from you, too, during this stressful time.



Specific prayers would be welcome for the surgical procedure tomorrow – that the doctors have success in removing the entire tumor and that the pathology reports come back clean. Also for a special peace for mom and dad as they play this dreadful waiting game.



On behalf of Jim and Treacy – thanks for your love and support.



(These first few journal entries are being written by friend Melissa (Missy) but will at some point be taken over by mom and dad).