sadly he passed away à little after his eight birthday. Jared was diagnosed at just 7 year old with DIPG on November 25, 2014. He was an active little boy who enjoyed soccer, swimming, and hockey. Jared loved to sing, pretending to play guitar or piano. His favorite color was red, he like watching superhero cartoons on tv. Like all parents who end up in the ER with their child, you do not expect a diagnosis like DIPG. We originally thought he had a concussion from playing hockey, or perhaps an ear infection. The diagnosis was a shock. Devastated by news of the diagnosis, we started treatments radiotherapy as we were told this is the standard treatment route. As we learned more about DIPG, we realized that our options were very limited and our time was running out. This is not an operable tumor and chemotherapy has proven ineffective. There are clinical trials going on but nothing is proven and no cure is available to date. We tried boosting his immune system, using combination of alternative therapies and vitamin C injections. Jared finished 6 weeks of radiation therapy in January of 2015, and approximately 6 weeks after it ended, we were happy to learn that the tumor was reduced by more than 50%. Unfortunately this good news was short lived. In June 2015, we received the news that an MRI showed that other tumor sites were forming. We enrolled in a trial using Keytruda at Cincinnati children hospital. So from Montreal we drove down to meet with the team. On our first day there, we did an MRI and unfortunately, the news was not good. His brain had swollen and the trial could not go forward as this drug would have caused further swelling. So we rushed back to Montreal to meet with his doctors to see of our possible options. The day after Jared smarted having convulsions, he was admitted to the Montreal Children’s where a shunt was placed. After this procedure, Jared never really regained consciousness. Unfortunately, Jared gained his angel wings on Sept 28 2015. Our sweet little JaJa will always be in our hearts and never forgotten.
