Hope's battle with JPA

It was December 6, 2020 when an emergency department physician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital told Hope’s mother the news that would change their world, “We found a mass.” At 12 years old, Hope’s headaches and dizzy spells had brought them to PCH. The shocking diagnosis was a JPA, a Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma. She was admitted to the ICU and the tumor encased in a sack of fluid was removed 2 days later. She is currently under the care of a few doctors at PCH to monitor tumor follow up, emotional well-being and headache/migraine management. She’s been put on several medications in increasing doses and even been subjected to excruciating occipital nerve blocking injections in the back of her head…but nothing has worked so far.