OUR BELOVED SON AND DIAGNOSIS OF BRAIN TUMOR
Antoni was born on January 7, 2021. Until August 21, 2023 none of us even imagined how sick he was… This day changed the life of our family forever. During a CT scan performed after a head injury, Antoni was diagnosed with a brain stem tumour. Doctor’s words: “After the fall he is without any injury, but we unfortunately found something in your son’s head.” It sounded like a verdict. Then everything happened quickly thanks to the people we met after leaving the emergency ward… That day was plenty of coincidences. It started with a fall, then there was a CT scan that could be simply omitted (as it is not usually performed for such small children in our country), and Antoni’s family doctor was present in the clinic in the afternoon. He advised us to go straight to the ward and ask what we can do. In the end, the doctor on duty verified the case, went to the office and returned less than 5 minutes later with the information that today We are supposed to show up at the University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk. We arrived around 11 p.m. and we were warmly received at the ward, despite the late hour. A number of tests was carried out and unfortunately confirmed the presence of a tumour. We faced with many words that took away our hope at each day… Initial diagnosis was a malignant and inoperable tumour due to its location in the brain stem. Almost the entire cross-section of the medulla oblongata was affected. As doctors at University Clinical Centre stated, 
performing a biopsy itself would be very risky and it was not even known whether anyone would undertake the surgery. It was decided to transport us to Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw. On the arrival, we were informed about the surgery scheduled for the next day. We talked with the attending physician, were informed about their plans and about the requirement for our consent. The doctor left no doubts… Physicians found a tumour located in the worst possible place in the brain, with limited access due to the direct proximity of the nerves responsible for basic life functions. It was one in a million case. As the doctor said, there are only a few such cases in Poland each year.
Our active child, without any symptoms of the disease, had to undergo surgery the next day with a huge risk of complications that could end in the worst possible way. We were not prepared for what we heard. You can’t prepare for something like this.
01/09/2023, at 9 a.m., the surgery began. We waited behind the wall of the operating room, every minute seemed to last forever. After almost 3 hours, Antoni left the operating room and was taken to the ICU. The doctor took a biopsy specimen, made decompression (suboccipital craniotomy with removal of the C1 arch) and partially removed the tumour. We were waiting for the biopsy result. It was an independent biopsy in Bonn confirming the result.
The diagnosis was pilocytic astrocytoma WHO G1, exophytic tumour of the brain stem.
Our Son showed his strength and willingness to live. After the surgery, he could not walk and had right-sided hemiparesis, but he quickly began to regenerate. We are currently undergoing a month of rehabilitation at Children’s Memorial Health Institute. Antoni is still regaining his physical fitness, we are continuing rehabilitation on site. He is a boy full of energy, but unfortunately, as the doctor said, he will always be sick. Happiness in misfortune are the most frequently used words recently. What awaits us? No one knows…
We are under the care of Children’s Memorial Health Institute. The first MRI was performed in December and showed a normal postoperative image. Subsequent follow-up MRIs, performed periodically every 3 months, will determine the next steps in treatment. This includes radiotherapy, proton therapy and chemotherapy. Now we are under the care of oncologists. We consult the results all over the world to give our child possibly the best treatment. We are looking for the best treatment option for Antoni, to make him LIVE…
Thank you for every kind word and support in every form that we constantly receive. Doctors, nurses, people we have met on our journey so far will forever be angels for us. They made that Antoni is with us. We enjoy every moment, and the smile on Antoni’s face every day gives us strength to fight… “
You can help Antos by making payment on the account:
Fundacja Pomocy Dzieciom i Osobom Chorym Kawalek Nieba
PL31109028350000000121731374
swift code: WBKPPLPP
Santander Bank
Title: 3783 Help for Antos Kwoczek
or by DOTPAY:
