Tracey Mae was so excited to be flying home on her 11th birthday from her extended stay with grandparents, aunts, uncles and dozens of cousins on the island of Cebu in the Phillipines. She and her mom had so many things they wanted to do together. As our family all flew back together on the plane, Tracey was not feeling that well and when we got back she was daignosed with most likely having the flu. Tracey said that sometimes vision in one eye was a little blurry, so we took her in for a routine eye exam. During the exam the doctor noted that her eye was not responeding correctly and told us to take her to emergency and get an MRI. We were in shock when the results of the MRI showed a massive brain tumor. Two days later Tracey was admitted at Lucile Packard's Children's Hospital at Stanford. The first brain surgery revealed that it was a glioblastoma of which part of it was located around the brain stem. The prognosis was terminal with 12-15 months of survival rate depending on how effective radiation and chemo was. Tracey went on to endure a second brain surgery, experimental chemo, radiation, and then 8 more months of chemo. She loved school and no matter how ill she felt from the chemo, she would strap on that backpack and walk to school with the rest of the neighbor kids. Everything this beautiful, intelligent, compassionate child endured, she never once complained. What transpired next is best captured in the following poem: Golden Heart God saw you getting tired and a cure was not meant to be, So he put his arms around you and whispered "Come to Me". With tearful eyes we watched you, as we saw you pass away. Although we loved you deeply, we could not make you stay. Your Golden Heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best. ~Therese Williamson No child and no family should ever have to experience what we had to because of brain cancer. Please donate whatever you can so someday there will no longer be stories written like this because a cure was found.