...Liam's Journey

In August of 2017 Liam and his brother were wrestling when he stated that he couldn't walk. We took him into the ER and were sent home with what we believed was torticollis ( a pulled neck muscle). After six weeks, and 4 more appointments to the pediatrician we knew there was something more than a pulled neck muscle and we brought him to the ER at St. Mary's in Rochester. We were kept over night and the following day an MRI and MRA showed that there was a tumor the size of an orange on his brain stem. They quickly sent him to surgery to have a drain placed in his brain to relieve the hydrocephalus. After the drain was placed we were admitted to the PICU, and were told that his tumor was an anaplastic ependymoma which is a cancerous brain tumor. A few days later Liam had surgery to remove the tumor. The tumor was completely removed! Praise God!

We continued with therapy and hospitalizations until we started 7 weeks of proton beam radiation therapy, followed by chemotherapy. We started chemo in January and ended the beginning of March, of that time we were home for 14 days, the rest we were in the hospital. He was on oxygen, a feeding tube, and many other therapies.

---

We are now done with therapy and will continue to monitor him every three months doing MRIs to make sure that that cancer does not come back. The reoccurrence rate for this cancer is 75%. We are believing that God is going to heal him and show a miracle through this! Whatever the outcome is, we know that God is in control and has been faithful through this. We have been really blessed to realize how precious life is!

​This summer we plan to use some of the funds from Team Vogel to help create a lot of memories and to also prepare financially if this were to come back. We are truly blessed to be part of such a great community in Winona!
​
God bless! 
The Liam Schroeder family