In December of 2010, Grace began to complain that her right foot was going numb a few times a day lasting for about a minute each time. This was accompanied by a weakness and eventual inability to lift her ankle in a normal walking stride. She went to Children’s Hospital Colorado thinking she had pinched a nerve. Instead, doctors discovered that Grace had a brain tumor in the motor cortex of her brain affecting her right foot. Treatment began with brain and spinal radiation in combination with carboplatinum chemotherapy each weekday for 30 days thanks to Dr. Nick Foreman’s research funded by The Morgan Adams Foundation. This treatment was successful in saving Grace’s life, and Grace is now a healthy and thriving young woman. She is currently in her final year of the nursing program at Creighton University.
MAF Impact: Chip data showed that certain tumors do not fit neatly into one category. Some tumors, such as in this child, have characteristics of two different types of brain tumors. The chip analysis enabled Dr. Foreman to modify the therapy used in order to treat for both tumor elements, offering the realistic chance of a cure that would not have been possible had the tumor diagnosis been wholly reliant on traditional microscopy.
