One year ago, I was working in my craft room when my phone rang. It was Payton’s oncologist with his MRI results. I had so much hope that the tumor had shrunk. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he had bad news. He did not sugarcoat, he straight up told me that the tumor had grown and Payton was in progression with DIPG, and that things would start to go downhill fairly quickly. I’m sitting there, tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat, taking notes on the conversation so I can relay the message properly to Jason. I’m writing down things like “make memories” and “options to buy him time”. I felt sick, and defeated. This was the real beginning to the end of Payton’s life. Today, Payton would have been 8 and a half years old. We celebrated his half birthday last year, because we knew he would never see another whole birthday. Hold your babies tight, we never thought this would happen to our son, or to our family.
My post from a year ago:
Our hearts have shattered a little more today. Payton’s oncologist called and said his tumor has grown and he is in progression. He said that once these tumors start progressing, things usually go downhill fairly quickly. We have a couple of options that may slow down tumor growth, but will only buy time. At this time we don’t know what we’re going to do. We are trying to be strong for him but feeling pretty broken.
Payton Strong 