Our son, Jarred, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor at age 11. Every parent’s worst nightmare had invaded our family. Jarred had suffered with chronic headaches off and on for around six months prior to the diagnosis. They were never bad headaches, just steady ones. Two Tylenol and he seemed fine for a few days until the next headache. During that year Jarred was more tired than usual and just not himself as we knew him. No diagnosis is stronger than a “Parent’s Gut Feeling.” If you feel something is seriously wrong with your child, be proactive and pursue it. Doctors are not GOD! It doesn’t mean it is their fault if your child suddenly becomes seriously ill. We love to put the blame on someone, so that might be the simplest way to outlet the feelings at the time. There are hundreds of reasons for 11 year olds to get headaches. Unfortunately, one rare time it may be a tumor headache, which is quite hard to distinguish from the rest of them.

And now…Jarred’s story. It wasn’t the first time that fall of sixth grade we had been called by the school nurse to come and get Jarred because he was sick. I decided, however, it would be the last. He was vomiting and having headaches. I knew something just wasn’t right with him and we needed to get to the bottom of this. He had been diagnosed with allergies, Strep Throat, the flu, etc…but never really got better. My husband and I had talked about the possibility that he needed glasses. We had discussed this with the pediatrician earlier and an appointment with the specialist had been scheduled. I was scared to death that day, because when I picked him up he looked so sick. His face was so pale. He also had a new symptom, double vision. His symptoms had definitely intensified in the last week.