Meet Mia

Mia was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor (Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma) along with spinal lesions in November of 2011, just weeks before her 2nd birthday. She is currently on her third different type of chemotherapy treatment that gets administered every 6 weeks over a 72 hour period for one year. Mia receives treatment at Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (formerly Children’s Memorial Hospital) and she loves to see her favorite nurses and doctors. Mia’s family is grateful for the amazing families they’ve met along their journey as well as for the wonderful organizations that are raising awareness for not only pediatric cancer, but also brain tumor research. In addition to being a brave warrior, Mia is a happy, loving, sweet, and sometimes sassy, three year old that loves to play with her big sister and friends, creating arts and crafts, reading, dancing at ballet class, listening to music, snuggling, and going to the park. She is also looking forward to starting preschool this month! As of Mia’s latest MRI (every 3 months) at the beginning of the year, Mia is stable for the first time in a year! This means that the chemotherapy is working to stop the tumor and spinal lesions from growing and everyone is thrilled! Mia’s family is hopeful that she has entered a period of stability and that she will be able to finish out the remaining 7+ months of treatment to remain stable or to possibly even start to show some shrinkage of the tumor and lesions.
Images by: Jessica Leigh Photography