When parents need to listen to their kids

TAMPA -  

Headaches and vomiting lead to a shocking diagnosis for one six year old, Adrianna Mininno from Tampa.

Adrianna is fearless. On a recent "make a wish" trip to Disney in California she rode the Tower of Terror and loved it. That spark and spunk has been invaluable in Adrianna’s fight against a cancerous tumor the size of a tennis ball, lodged in the back of her head.

Dr. Stacie Stapleton of All Children’s Hospital says they discovered a medulla blastoma. “A medullablastoma is a primitive tumor that develops in the back part of the brain," said Dr. Stapleton.

It’s common in children - affecting nine kids every day. Doctors at All Children's Hospital removed the tumor. Radiation and chemotherapy followed. The treatments robbed Adrianna of her sleeping beauty-like blonde hair and her ability to walk, both of which are coming back now. Her prognosis is good.

Her dad says, "She kind of has a slogan now: A little attitude makes a big difference."

The same could be said for her parents - who questioned her pediatrician’s initial diagnosis of her headaches and vomiting as a viral incident. The took her to an eye doctor who found an enlarged optic nerve -which lead them to a neurologist and a real diagnosis.

And here is what James, her dad, says you should take away from their experience:

“The main thing here is to listen to your child when your child tells you something hurts and it seems out of the ordinary and they're consistent with it. There's got to be something there. In our case, Adrianna was very specific stating the back of her head hurt and she had sickness and vomiting in the morning, which are all signs of swelling of the brain. So we pursued that. We listened to our child. Had we not, had we listened to other people's advice, we might not be in the same situation we are in now."

Adrianna's treatments continue until January. Taking her to and from appointments has become a full time job for this family and they are financially strapped. Pepin Distributing is holding a fundraiser for them later this month. Here are the details:

Bud Run
Pepin Distributing
Saturday May 22
8 am to 10 am
To the Green Iguana on Anderson at 2pm

www.budrun.org