On August 30th I received a call from Jakes school that he had collapsed on the playground and they had emergency responders on scene. My heart dropped, I rushed to the school where we were put in the back of an ambulance and on our way to the hospital where his dad met us. Once there they immediately did a CT scan and within 10 minutes were back in the room delivering the worst news you could expect- there was a large mass in the center of Jakes brain. Jake was diagnosed with Pineoblastoma and underwent a 14 hour tumor removal surgery on September 10th where they were able to remove 90% of the tumor! October and November we spent in Jacksonville at the Ronald McDonald House while Jake went through proton radiation. On January 15th Jake started his first out of six rounds of chemotherapy. We’ve been thrown many curve balls so far on this journey and Jake has pushed through every time. So far he’s endured 2 Staph infections, radiation breakdown of his incision that led to another surgery, he went into anaphylactic shock where we learned he has allergies to blood products, nerve pain that led to genetic testing that showed he has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease that makes him allergic to the vincristine, common side effects like nausea and fatigue, and most recently learned will have to have a piece of his skull removed after he finishes chemotherapy. Jake is a fighter, he is the definition of a warrior (who also likes to snuggle!) and will make it out on the other side with a testament to tell. Thank you for supporting our son Jake and all the other children battling this vicious diseases. Sincerely Jake’s mom, Sara