Ruthie Dean

Ruthie has two blood disorders that cause her blood to be naturally too thick.  She has had these disorders since birth and they have never been a problem. Her doctors have always cautioned us against her becoming dehydrated.  If she ever vomited, we were instructed to take her to the Emergency Room so that she may receive fluids to combat dehydration.  On Friday, September 15th we were called to pick her up from school because she had thrown up in class. Three days before, she had a headache and at this point, she still had the headache. Originally, we thought we may be dealing with migraines.  Oh how, I wish that was the case.  On that Friday afternoon, we took her to the ER and she received fluids.  Just as a precaution, and because of the extreme headache, the doctor ordered a CT (cat scan) of the head and at 8:37 that evening we were told that Ruthie has a brain tumor that is about the size of a medium plum within her brain (in the interior and close to the cranial ceiling).  Now, we have begun a journey that we never thought we would navigate.