About AJ & Medullablastoma

My name is Christy Marks and I’m AJ’s mom. I decided to create this blog as a way to tell the story of AJ’s journey through Medulloblastoma in pictures.

For those who don’t know, Medulloblastoma is a certain type of brain tumor located at the back of the head near the brain stem.

The backstory is that he’d been having headaches off and on for about a year. They would always go away and we had taken him to our family Dr. who thought they were migraines brought on by stress at school.

March 17th at approximately 6:30 in the morning, our lives as we know them stopped. AJ had a tumor in the back of his brain burst. He was staying with Molly & Steve (maternal grandparents) because we were out of town at a photography convention in Las Vegas. He came to my mom in the morning and said he had another horrible headache. She gave him his medicine (the Dr. had prescribed some medicine for migraines) and he went back to get ready for school. All of a sudden my mom knew something was wrong and went back into his room. He had lost consciousness and was vomiting. They immediately rushed him to St. Elizabeth where they did a CT scan and determined what happened. He was then life-lined by helicoptor to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. Where a team of neurosurgeons headed by Dr. Lauri Ackerman saved his life with the help of God.

Since March 17th AJ has undergone 3 other surgeries (4 in all) and most of his tumor was removed. The rest of it we are taking care of it with radiation & chemotherapy. He conquered 31 Photon/Proton Radiation/Chemo treatments by June 2.

We got a bit of a break during June and then we embarked on his intensive chemo maintenance treatments in July. We have 2 down and 4 to go. We hope to be done in December but we are playing it by ear and living day to day.

What is Childhood Medulloblastoma?

Medulloblastoma, although rare, is a common brain tumor in children, responsible for 25% of all pediatric brain cancers. About 500 cases are diagnosed annually in the U.S. Usually diagnosed before the age of 10, medulloblastoma occurs in the cerebellum, a portion of the brain that plays a vital role in coordinating muscular movements. Tumors grow quickly and can invade neighboring portions of the brain. If tumor cells get into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), medulloblastoma can spread to other areas of the central nervous system. In rare instances, it can spread outside the brain and spinal cord. Medulloblastoma affects both sexes, although it’s slightly more common in boys.

Medulloblastoma is believed to arise from fetal cells that remain in the cerebellum after birth. However, cancer experts have differing opinions on whether or not medulloblastoma is a type of primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), which originates from leftover fetal cells.