The strongest 5 year old I know

I am the mother of Keegan Mulligan. I am here to share with you the story of my strong son. We found his tumor during an ER visit in October of 2016 after complaining of not feeling well once again and noticing his hyperextension of his back and neck. He had a tumor they size of a large peach in his cerebellum.

We were rushed to Morristown Atlantic Health Center and he was in surgery within the hour of arrival to place a drain in his little head to relieve the pressure. He went back into surgery the next day to remove the tumor. Thankfully they were able to take it all out with little to no complications. I feel lucky and blessed. We spend 13 days in the PICU and 2 more days on the regular peds. ward before we were able to go home.

The time he was in there I wouldn’t wish on anyone, let alone a 5 year old that had no clue what was going on. I was told the tumor was growing for about a year. A YEAR! My first thought was how did his primary doctors miss this. Moving past the blame my focus was just to get him healthy and back to normal. Little did I know my normal is quite different now. The tumor has not returned but he had hydrocephalus(water on the brain).

 

He still goes to different therapies. He has great days and not so great days. I never knew how much control our cerebellums have over our bodies. My little man fights with his own emotions on a daily basis. He doesn’t feel as he belongs in school with the other kids because he can’t quite keep up. Even though he goes through these struggles he’s the most caring and joyful little boy I know. People gravitate towards him and he can make you laugh instantly. He truly is doing amazing for what he has been through.

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Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.