Friday February 22nd was the moment our lives would be changed forever. We ended up in CHOP trying to get to the bottom of the shoulder pain Liv had been experiencing for a few weeks after a fall snowboarding. After x-rays, an mri and blood work our  local orthopedist diagnosed her with a bone bruise and said it would get better. But the pain seemed to be getting worse and her right arm was getting weaker and weaker. 
When we went to the emergency room at CHOP we met with orthos who handed us off to neurology who all recommended we get an additional mri to make sure we weren’t missing anything. 
When the results came back we were ushered into a private room. In that one moment out whole  world came crashing down. They found a tumer in Livs spinal cord. All I remember is screaming and not being able to breath. How could this be happening to our Liv? We were admitted right away to the nuero oncology floor and tried to wrap our heads around the news we had received. 
As I’m typing this I’m laying in a hospital room next to my 8!ueaf old daughter who will have her spinal chord cut open tomorrow and have a 8-10 hour surgery. We have already been told because of the type of tumor it is and were it is they won’t be able to get it all. She might never regain full function of her arm and we were prepared that she could endure some other deficits because of the tumors location.
Depending on the results of biopsy’s she will most likely need radiation to get rid of the rest of the tumor. 
This will be our new normal. Hospitals, tumors, treatments, doctors, nurses, oncologist, neurologist. 
She is strong and I know as a family we can fight this. We are in one of the top children’s hospitals in the county and feel confident in her team of doctors. She will fight like a unicorn and beat this. From now on our lives will never be the same.