On March 27th my son Andrew came home from school and said he wanted to shave his head bald. I immediately said “NO”, as that would seem foolish of him. Andrew’s reaction was but Dad you did it once for one of your workers (employee) a couple of years ago. I then said what are you talking about and he handed me some papers that he brought home from school. Andrew said, “ Dad I want to be just like you..” The information came home with every student in the school and here is the message that I read;
Dear Parents,
We have organized a fundraiser for Lauren Gillie who is a student in senior kindergarten at our school. The attached form and pledge sheet explains the fundraiser. This is a voluntary project set up by friends and classmates of Lauren’s. We are encouraging students to participate in this cause by collecting donations from friends and family.
We would like at least 6 students to volunteer to have their hair shaved or long hair cut short for this event. We have hairdressers/barbers who have volunteered their time for this cause. There is a sign up sheet in each classroom for the hair cutting. Permission form must be signed and handed in by April 18th so we know how many students are going to have their hair cut/shaved.
We would like the pledge form and money handed in by April 20th.
Thanks in advance for your support!
Lindsay Hannah (S.K.), Dylan Hannah (Gr. 3) [organizers] and many more of Lauren’s friends.
I did not need to hesitate any longer I immediately signed the permission slip.
I then decided to get more information about Lauren and I learned that she is 5 years young and a senior kindergarten student at Massassauga-Rednersville School and she was diagnosed with a rare, life threatening form of brain cancer.
Lauren was complaining about the TV being blurry her parents started to get more concerned when they noticed her left eye was starting to drift. She started commenting on be able to "see two daddies and two mommies".
The eye continued to migrate gradually, until she was very noticeably cross-eyed. We set up an appointment with an Ophthalmologist to have her checked, thinking we would need to have the eye corrected surgically.
Doctor Vaughan, a family friend, asked about the patch Lauren was wearing during a social family dinner. We explained she had been complaining about the TV being blurry and having double vision. Doc asked Lauren to allow him to take a look at her eye. He suggested we needed to have her seen right away, and set up an appointment with a peer of his, Dr. Gregoire, a pediatrician at Belleville General Hospital, for the coming Tuesday. The physical exam went well, but the CAT scan to eliminate any doubt showed a rather large tumor. We were instructed to leave BGH immediately. Dr. Gregoire called ahead to Kingston General to get a rush MRI done, and have us meet a Doctor Silva, who is a practicing Oncologist.
Dr. Gregoire preformed a physical exam for reflexes, muscle control, balance etc and assessed Lauren's eyes, looking for swelling or dilated blood vessels behind the eye. He seemed satisfied, but the following CAT scan performed around 11am, showed a rather large tumor on the brainstem, resulting in pressure on the 6th optic nerve which controls the left eye. Basically this pressure distorts the signal transmitted from the brain. In a healthy person, this signal is balanced so the eyes track left to right and up and down when following something of interest. With the tumors influence, this "balanced" signal is offset. When you cover Lauren's good eye, the poor eye tracks quite well, because the brain is sending the signal only through the nerve affected by the tumor. When the good eye is uncovered, the poor eye migrates due to the unbalanced signal sent from the brain. Doctor Gregoire gave Lauren’s parents the bad news, and they discussed their options.
It was decided the tumor’s location didn't lend itself to surgical removal. The tumor is too close to autonomic nerves that control critical body functions, such as breathing, heart rate, swallowing, gag reflex etc.
This was all I needed to know and I felt that I have helped many people along the way that I need to help this little girl that attends my son’s school. I am always under the understanding that children belong to everybody, what I mean from this is that this child is not related to me and I have never met her, and yet I feel that Lauren is one of our children that need help. I am starting to raise money through our store to assist with the expenses that are now being burdened to Lauren’s family. Lauren is undergoing daily chemo treatment that might not be a benefit to her and we have our fingers crossed as we have seen miracles in the past and are praying for another for Lauren.
I do not know many of you on this board and I am hoping that maybe some of you that are able maybe you can send a couple of dollars, a toonie, or 5.00 or anything that might be of help to Lauren and her family. You can send us a cheque or money order addressed to Lauren Gillie in trust we will make sure that Lauren’s family receives it. Those that want to contribute please do so prior to April 18th so that I may take it to the school for Monday April 23rd. You can send the funds to Carra Outdoor Sports 51 Adam St. Unit # 2, Belleville, ON K8N 5K3.
I have attached a picture of Lauren with Dr. Vaughn
Kind regards,
Sam
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