Students in leadership positions learn about brain tumors and gain real world experience in running a non-profit business while raising funds for brain tumor research. Beneficiaries of the money we raise are Barrow Neurological Institute, National Brain Tumor Society, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Translational Genomics Research Institute, and University of Arizona.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world..." Gandhi
ANGEL’S STORY - as told by Angel's mother
On May 4, 2018 Angel Carden was like any ordinary 8 year old boy. He was just finishing up 3rd grade and enjoying the last days of Little League Baseball. After a day on the baseball field, Angel started to have seizures later on that night. We rushed him to an emergency room and a CT scan discovered that Angel had a large tumor growing in the back of his brain. Our world felt like it was ending, we were scared, and we desperately feared for our son’s dear life.
Angel was immediately transferred by ambulance to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, only one of a few places in the country that could properly care for our son. By the time we were admitted the tumor was causing increased pressure to his brain. This caused Angel to continuously vomit, barely speak, unable to move and started to lose his vision. Angel’s neurosurgeon Dr. Ruth Bristol was the one to diagnose our son with Stage 4 Medulloblastoma. She let us know that he had to immediately have surgery for 2 shunts, to relieve the pressure on his brain before any permanent damage was done. We spent 14 days in the Pediatric Intense Care Unit and Angel’s final surgery lasted over 7 hours to remove his brain tumor.
We prayed so much during that time, and had started to meet so many new people that cared for our son as much as we did. After the surgery Angel could barely move or talk, which is common with posterior fossa syndrome. When we left the hospital at the end of May, Angel was in a wheelchair and his Dad had to lift him into our car to take him home. Every day I watch my son defy the odds against him. He went to physical, speech, and occupational therapy; exceeded every goal they set for him in the span of 4 months. Since then Angel has went on to complete Proton Radiation Therapy as Scottsdale Mayo Clinic under Dr. Sameer Keole for about 8 weeks. He now walks, talks, and went from writing with his left hand to right hand. Angel is even going to school when he feels up to it. Angel just wanted to share his story to never give up, and he wants to give back for every child that may be going through the same circumstance that Angel has been through.
PLEASE SUPPORT SSBTR to help Angel and the far too many like him!
“One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money; we also feel we need to work.”
— Peter Drucker
A Kuwaiti medical team succeeded in eradicating a brain tumor using the surgical technique (Curve), the latest in specialized treatment.
For brain tumor patients who are resistant to chemotherapy, radiation and existing treatment options, surgery are central to survival.
7D Surgical, one of the leaders in advanced optical technologies and vision-based surgery algorithms, flagship product, the MvIGS technology has the power to obtain hundreds of thousands of virtual fiducials leveraging the patient’s anatomy which allows for immediate cranial registration in just about any surgical position.
The blood-brain barrier normally blocks many types of drugs from entering the central nervous system, making it hard to treat brain disorders. Scientists hope to solve that problem with the help of an unlikely ally: the jawless sea lamprey. And they have promising early evidence that a molecule derived from the creature could be used to ferry drugs directly to previously difficult-to-access diseased sites in the brain.
The young boy was running out of time. His brain tumor was growing so fast that he had trouble putting words together. All standard cancer treatments had failed. Then last summer the child started taking an experimental pill that targeted a rare genetic mutation found inside his tumor. Within months, the malignant growth started to shrink and his cognitive symptoms eased. Soon the tumor had all but disappeared. Today he’s still on the drug but back at school and doing well.
A new Northwestern Medicine study finds that a combination of two mutations cause a form of pediatric brain tumors to become more deadly, according to findings published in Nature Communications. An experimental drug targeting one mutation prolonged survival in models of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), but questions remain about the drug’s efficacy,
A novel imaging technique that uses a synthesized form of scorpion venom to light up brain tumors has shown promise in a clinical trial. The imaging system enables neurosurgeons to better see malignant growths that often are difficult to fully eliminate.
