Roxie Pickrell Roxie Pickrell

Roxie's story began several months ago, around February.  She started having symptoms such as weight gain, tiredness,  vision issues, etc.  After routine blood tests and a visit to the pediatrician, we assumed her symptoms were puberty related.  When school started in August, Roxie complained of increased vision problems; we already had her yearly eye checkup scheduled and assumed her prescription needed updating.  While at her brother's football game 2 weeks ago  (10/02/19), her father and I realized, due to her inability to see the game, exactly how poor her vision was.  We didn't wait for her scheduled appointment; we walked her into EyeMart the next day (10/03/19) and received verification something abnormal was going on.  We saw an eye specialist on 10/04/19; he sent us for an MRT on 10/10/19.  During our follow up with the eye specialist on 10/11/19 to review MRI results, we were informed Roxie had a 4 cm mass on her brain. Upon leaving the appointment with the eye specialist, we found out my husband's father, "Poppy," had passed away from a stroke.  Roxie was admitted to Norton's on 10/11/19.  She had brain surgery to remove the tumor on 10/14/19; surgery was successful.  A baseball size mass was removed.  MRI results following the surgery show that there are no further abnormal masses in the brain or spinal cord.  This brings us to present.  


We are awaiting pathology results and for her to awake from sedation.  There is a possibility she has had a stroke.  She has dental brackets for braces which are hindering a full MRI, which is needed to determine whether a stroke has occurred.