Jacob Beresh

Written by his mom, Kellie Beresh, Omaha, NE

Just after Christmas of 2002, my then 5-year-old son, Jake, started complaining of mild headaches. My husband was concerned so we made an appointment with our pediatrician. At the appointment, our pediatrician examined Jake and wanted to do an MRI just to rule everything out! I remember as I sat in the room with Jake as he got his MRI that that was the hardest thing I had seen my child go through. I had no idea where the road ahead would lead us.

Before the MRI was over, the staff called me out and I knew then that something was very wrong. The doctor told us that they had found a tumor in Jake's head. It's very hard to describe the feeling I felt when we were told about Jake's tumor. I remember crying and saying "no, no, no" over and over, wanting to sink down into the tile floor.

Jake had a tumor the size of a lemon on the outside of his brain behind his right ear. It was extremely vascular, which meant they could not biopsy it to see if it was malignant or benign and removing it would be next to impossible because of the risk of Jake bleeding to death during the surgery. Despite that, the doctors worked to come up with a plan.

The neurosurgeons found a neuro-intervention radiologist at the University of Iowa who agreed to do an Embolization Procedure on Jake's tumor to make surgery possible. This is a procedure where they essentially squirt glue in the blood vessels to cut off the blood supply to the tumor to reduce the risk of bleeding in the future surgery.

On January 28th, Jake had his miracle surgery to remove his tumor. In the three hours that he was in surgery, he lost 8 units of blood, which is about three times his total blood volume, and needed blood transfusions. The surgeons and other doctors worked feverously to keep him alive as they painstakingly removed 99 percent of his tumor.

The night before we were discharged, though, we learned the devastating news that had been haunting us for the three weeks since we had found Jake's tumor—Jake had cancer.

Jake had 14 rounds of very hard chemo that were administered every three weeks and required inpatient stays at Children's for three to six days. He also endured six weeks of radiation therapy in which he suffered a third degree burn. During his course of treatment, he required many blood and platelet transfusions to survive. So not only did blood donors save our little boy during his surgery, but throughout that whole year of treatment.

Happily, Jake was declared in remission in January of 2004. He is now eight years old and back in school full time.

From our whole family, which now includes Ben who is 10 months old, we thank you very much for donating blood. Right now there is a child sitting in a hospital room waiting for your donation of whole blood or platelets that will get them through another day of treatment and another day closer to being healthy again.

Thank you and please continue to give blood!

Kellie, Steve, Jake, Brandon and Ben Beresh