Joseph's Story:

Joseph was 16 years old when, in January of 2023, he was diagnosed with Grade IV Glioblastoma. At the beginning of the year, Joseph began to experience debilitating headaches, and nothing seemed to help the pain. He was taken to the ER, where it was said that he had “post-concussion syndrome” from a fall but nothing else to assess him. Joseph was in excruciating pain, and it began to affect him at school. It got to the point where his teachers cruelly accused him of faking/ lying about the pain! His teachers also reported that Joseph would sit and stare off into space without expression. Although they didn’t question it or bring it up as a concern. These symptoms escalated when, on January 4th, 2023, around 2:30 in the morning, Joseph’s mom woke up to him standing in front of her with his right hand sticking out. He seemed frozen like a statute, and as his mother called his name, he never responded. She called an ambulance, and he was taken to the ER, where he received a CT scan. Results showed a mass located in the temporal lobe of his brain. While being transported to Valley Children’s Hospital, Joseph was experiencing seizures, and once reached there, he underwent an EEG. The first night, it was calculated he had seven seizures. On January 18th, he underwent a craniotomy to extract as much of the tumor as possible, and thankfully, it was a successful surgery that led to no complications! On the 22nd, pathology revealed that the cancer was Stage IV Glioblastoma. 3 weeks later, Joseph began radiation and chemotherapy for 6 weeks. He officially finished radiation and the first rounds of chemo in April 2023. The tumor was identified as Grade IV Glioblastoma Multiforme. An incredibly aggressive brain tumor that usually is found in older adults. Joseph is still actively undergoing chemo, and his scans show no new growths.

He is now 17 as of November 4th, 2023! Doctors didn’t believe he would live to see his 17th birthday after being diagnosed just a few months after turning 16. Joseph is continuing to defy doctors' original premonitions, and as of June 2024, he is 1 year and 5 months past diagnosis! On a daily basis he deals with horrific headaches that have no relief, he is trying his best to cope. His mom was hoping to get him seen at Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. With the hopes of finding a clinical trial that would best fit Joseph's cancer. Sadly, they couldn't raise the funds in time for the travel. They will be trying again soon, and Matilda hopes that their hospital social worker can find a way to cover their travel (airfare) and placement expenses, such as a hotel or any family housing. This was unable to be done in May, which is why Joseph was not seen at Duke. The second option for a clinical trial is at The University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.