Vicky

Meet Vicky.

She is almost 5 and already has an incredible story to tell.

Since she was a newborn, her parents were informed that she had stomach issues. Despite changing her formula many times, she continued to get sick when it came time to drink her bottle. She was also given many different types of medication for esophageal reflux, although any tests that were done for her came back normal.

In April 2019, her mother noticed that she was taking 5–6 hour naps. She was always irritable and crying. She was constantly falling. Her speech patterns were irregular. Then one day, she became very sick in her mother's car and had a mini seizure. Vicky was immediately taken to the CT Children's Medical Center ER (CCMC), where it was determined that she did not have stomach issues, but rather was retaining a large amount of fluid in her brain and had a golf ball-sized tumor. This brave girl underwent an 8-hour surgery. Post-surgery, her left eye went inward but she was able to move around, talk, she was alert, and knew who everyone was. She had trouble walking so she received physical therapy. She was prescribed glasses to fix her eye and she was given a patch to wear daily to straighten her eye.

Three days later, she had another MRI, where another small tumor was detected on the left side of her brain. It was decided that they would not operate on her yet, but rather do MRIs every 3 months and closely monitor her condition.

In May 2019, she was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma; an aggressive type of brain cancer that grows and mutates quickly. Vicky began receiving chemotherapy treatments at CCMC. She was admitted multiple times due to her platelets dropping very low. She had bruises on her arms and legs - signs of her platelets being too low. At the end of June 2019, Vicky and her family were sent to Boston Children's Hospital to have her cells removed, preserved, and frozen to be transplanted at a later date. She continued her chemotherapy treatments at CCMC until October 2019, at which time she and her family traveled back to Boston Children's for the remainder of her chemo and to have her cells transplanted.

On October 16, 2019, Vicky had a cell transplant that literally almost killed her. She spiked a temperature of 108-109 for days. The chemo given days prior gave her blisters inside her mouth, esophagus, and rectal area. Vicky was vomiting and excreting blood. Her parents were scared and angry all at once, overwhelmed with emotions they had never expected to feel with their little girl. But Vicky, being so strong she persevered and was discharged back to CCMC on November 5, 2019, to continue her chemo treatments and infusions afterward.

On September 30, 2020, Vicky had another scan which determined that the tumor the doctors had seen on the last MRI had grown from 0.2 cm to 1.7 cm.

On October 19th, 2020 Vicky's tumor was removed and the surgery went well. The following day Vicky's surgeon says that she has another tumor. The surgeon wanted to operate again and remove it. He stated he would discuss the results with the radiologist to decide what was the best course of action for Vicky. At the time Vicky was doing so well, they decided to continue with chemo and radiation as it was thought to be able to combat the tumor.

Vicky's family remained in Boston from November 19, 2020, until they returned to Connecticut on January 7, 2021, so that Vicky could continue her chemo at Connecticut Children's Hospital in Hartford.

Vicky began chemotherapy again on February 16, 2021. She will be getting chemo for 18 months, following MRIs every 3 months to make sure that the tumor does not come back. Every 3 weeks she will be having to follow up with an oncologist to check-in to see if they need to add chemo medications and/or change anything. Vicky is tolerating chemo with side effects such as feeling extremely tired, sleeping a lot, and swelling under the eyes. She was given an appetite booster to help her improve her appetite because she lost weight during her radiation. She was 26lbs. and after the medication is now 29lbs.

Vicky will also be celebrating her 5th Birthday at the end of March. This beautiful and resilient girl has already been through so much, and yet still has so far to go. The family has a GoFundMe page that we have linked below if you would like to donate to help them as they have fallen on hard times. They recently had a fire in their house and have been living in a hotel ever since, along with her dad having been laid off and her mom not being able to work so that she can be available at a moment's notice for Vicky.

This family has had their world turned upside down, and they need your help. Please find it in your hearts to donate to this family. You can help by spreading the word about Vicky's story and donating to the GoFundMe the family has set up, or directly to Baby Oliver Project. We would love to make a sizable contribution to the family, and possibly even set up a birthday wish list for Vicky. Thank you for keeping this family in your thoughts and prayers.