By December 14th Colton had been vomiting on and off for ten days. At the direction of our AMAZING pediatrician, Dr. Mary Collins, we went to the local ER to have some tests run. While there, Colton's CT Scan determined he had a mass pressing on his cerebellum which was inducing the vomiting from pressure being built up on his spinal cord. We were rushed to Lurie's Childrens Hospital's by their nurturing transport team. Within 24 hours Colton was in surgery with the top pediatric Neurosurgeon in the WORLD! He scooped out the tumor, massaged and gently peeled back the blood vessels from the nerves they were attached to. After waiting a long week for the tumor board (dream team) to meet, it was determined Colton had a Anaplastic (stage 3) Ependymoma. These kind of tumors are very aggressive and can return anytime. Colton is in treatment at the Chicago Proton Center in Warrenville, Illinois. He is put to sleep during his 33 daily 2 hour treatments. We are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Winfield as it is hard for him not to eat before treatment. He is doing well and he LOVES the Proton Center! He has some hair loss, sleepiness, and nausea but all in all we feel very lucky to have caught this early. The proton radiation is a very direct beam that targets the tumor area but doesn't hit the healthy cells around it. This will help Colton in terms of cognitive learning and memory. He may suffer a few deficits  but we welcome the challenge as we know  prayers and good vibes from our community, family and friends are felt and Colton is SURVIVING!  Thank you for supporting Colton and the more than 300,000 kids worldwide who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. By sharing the gifts of your time, talent and money with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, you're supporting research to give all kids with cancer a better chance for a cure.

UPDATE: Colton had a reoccurrence in Sept 2019 in the same location. He then had another brain surgery to remove a non cancerous mass in September 2022. 

2/22/23 Colton had his fourth brain surgery to remove what they are now saying is metastasized disease in another part of his brain. He is scheduled to go back to proton radiation for 6 weeks beginning March 2023.