Sometime in the fall of 2013 Halsten starting getting sick for no apparent reason. He would throw up, we would clean him up, and then he would go about his business of being an 18 month old boy. We were concerned that whatever he had would spread to us and our other son, so we were prepared to get sick too. That never happened. Eventually, he started throwing up more often, still with no real apparent reason. He saw the doctor and they didn't seem to know what was going on so they just told us to keep an eye on him. Thanksgiving came and went and Halsten didn't show any improvement. The first weekend in December he was throwing up all the time, we were trying to keep him hydrated but he wasn't keeping anything down. On Monday, Dec. 9th his mom, Monica, checked on him in the morning and noticed that he was barely moving. She called me at work and I met them at the emergency room. There the doctors gave him some anti-nausea medicine, he kept some fluids down and they sent us home. The next morning they had a follow up appointment with his pediatrician. When Monica went to wake him up it was the same thing again. She called the pediatrician's office. They told her to bring him in right away. When she got there, our regular doctor was not available. The doctor they saw decided that they needed to start ruling out the big stuff first to get to the root cause. They sent Halsten and Monica to the ER again, I met them there, for a CT scan. Initially, nobody wanted to subject him to all the radiation if we didn't have to. The ER team called the doctor and questioned if it was necessary for him to have the CT scan. The doctor told them that she had only sent one other child for a scan and if she said to do it, then they needed to do it. We had the scan done, and he did surprisingly well. By that time we had been in the ER for about 5 hours, so I decided that I would walk him around the ER to keep him occupied. By the time we had done one lap and got back to our room, Monica was waiting for me with what we call the "look" in her eyes. Through tears and choked back sobs she told me that "they found something". My world fell apart. They told us that he needed an MRI and that he needed to go to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital. He had to go in an ambulance, they didn't say why, but we have come to find out later, it was because he was so close to not making it. Monica went with him, I went home to get some things for us all and to make arrangements for Halsten's big brother. The next day Halsten had an MRI and the results showed that he had a tumor near the brain stem. They told us that he needed to have surgery, and that he needed to have it the next day. The tumor was about four inches long and 2 inches in diameter. The surgery was scheduled for the next day at 1:00pm. The surgeons told us that it would be a 4-5 hour procedure. after 6 hours the head surgeon came out and spoke to us. He told us that he was able to remove the tumor, but that it was not what he had expected and it was much more difficult than anticipated, but that our baby had survived the surgery and we would see him soon. After that it was a whirlwind of activity. We met with the oncology team and were informed that Halsten has/had anaplastic ependymoma. They told us to stay off the internet, to read the material they had instead. They said that there were some spots on his spine that they were concerned with and that he needed a biopsy. The results would dictate if he would need chemotherapy and then radiation therapy, or only radiation. He had the biopsy on Dec. 23. This was the worst night in the hospital. The team decided that Halsten needed to remain on his back without moving, but they chose not to sedate him. I had to physically restrain him for 8 hours until the team removed his catheter and said that I could hold him. We were able to take him him home for Christmas Eve! As we were driving home, the surgeon called us and told us great news. The cancer had not spread to his spine, so Halsten would not need to undergo chemo. Radiation started a few weeks later and he went through 6 weeks of radiation. He quickly became the favorite of the staff. He loved visiting them while he was in therapy. He has been doing great since then. We recently had our three month follow up and so far there are no traces of cancer. Halsten is a strong little boy. He might still have some effects from the radation later in life, but we'll continue to fight those as well. Thank you for supporting kids like Halsten. Cancer is a terrible ugly disease, only made worse when it attacks kids. With your donation hopefully we can find cures.