An 11-year-old girl fighting a rare, fast-moving form of brain cancer has been sleeping in tents with her family as they try to stretch every dollar toward her treatment.
Katie Tanton has spent much of the year moving between hospital visits and medical care after she was diagnosed in January with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, known as DIPG.
Her father, Austin, called the diagnosis “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
“It targets the brainstem, which controls everything from breathing to heart rate. The facts are brutal: it has a near zero percent survival rate, and most children only live nine to 11 months after diagnosis. Because the tumor grows into the healthy brain tissue, it can’t be removed by surgery,” he wrote on social media.
Katie said her symptoms began last year, when she started experiencing double vision and felt lightheaded while running cross-country, according to WBRZ.
“We took her to the doctors. She just kept having persistent headaches, and then in January, we noticed some different things happening with her eyes,” her mother, Breann Tanton, said.
Katie was eventually taken to the emergency room, where physicians at a children’s hospital in Baton Rouge found a mass on her brain stem. On February 18, her 11th birthday, she began radiotherapy.
Since then, the Tanton family has left their home in Denham Springs, Louisiana. Over the past week, they have been sleeping in tents while Katie participates in a clinical trial at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Katie Tanton, 11, has been sleeping in a tent with her family in Ohio to save money for her treatments after she was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) in January
The family’s decision to move to Ohio came after costs became unmanageable and to obtain Medicaid in the state for a clinical trial at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus
Katie first experienced double vision and became lightheaded while running cross-country last year before doctors discovered a mass on her brain stem
‘I’m not going to lie, it’s hot. It’s not as much fun as it sounds, not when it’s more than just a couple of nights,’ Breann, 37, said.
Katie was seen pictured sleeping inside of their tent on an air mattress with her stuffed teddy bear by her side.
Their decision to move to and live in Ohio came after travel and hotel costs became unmanageable and they sought to obtain Medicaid within the state of Ohio for Katie’s treatment.
The Tantons told Unfiltered with Kiran that they struggled to find a place to live without jobs, leaving them with no choice but to camp in the meantime.
Breann and Austin told WBRZ that their daughter has remained strong throughout her trying journey, despite experiencing frequent headaches and fatigue.
‘Her last MRI showed that the tumor had shrunk some and was unfortunately causing some necrosis,’ Breann said.
‘Unfortunately, the way it was explained to us is that the brain doesn’t know the difference between the tumor and the dead tumor.’
Katie’s mother said that as the tumor is shrinking it has been causing her brain to swell.
Katie’s heartbroken father Austin Tanton, seen left, described his daughter as ‘truly beautiful and lovely sweet girl who undoubtedly doesn’t deserve the challenges of cancer’
With three other daughters at home, her mother Breann, pictured with Katie, said they began to sell what they could and fundraising for a camper that the family of five could live and travel in
Katie’s mother said her daughter has been experiencing frequent fatigue and headaches, but she has been able to keep a smile on her face throughout her journey
‘And cysts to form right on her cerebellum, causing a lot of the symptoms that she deals with daily anyway to be a lot worse,’ her mother added.
However, while they camped in Ohio, Katie kept a smile on her face as she hunts for fossils with her sisters and spends time with her family.
Katie’s diagnosis in January came as a heartbreaking shock to the young family, and the financial stresses weighed on them heavily.
With three other daughters at home, Breann and Austin said they began to sell what they could and fundraising for a camper that the family of five could live and travel in.
‘If I had a million, I’d blow it all making Katie happy, letting her do everything she wants in life while she can,’ her father, 37, wrote on Facebook.
‘Life is so cruel and unfair; one minute she’s running track, the next minute cancer is killing her.’
Katie’s aunt, Annie Normand, said she and her family have been working hard to help support the Tantons. Normand told WBRZ that she began a new fundraiser with a goal of raising $50,000.
‘Once I raise $50,000, I will shave my head,’ she said.
Katie’s aunt, Annie Normand seen with Katie, said she and her family have been working hard to help support the Tantons, and that she began a fundraiser with a goal of raising $50,000
Normand said that she recently had her niece’s name tattooed on her arm as a reminder to keep working hard to help Katie, who she described as ‘amazing’
Austin described the diagnosis as ‘a parent’s worst nightmare’ that targets the brainstem and has a ‘near zero percent survival rate’
On Facebook, Normand wrote: ‘My hope is that it gives my brother and sister in law one less thing to worry about so they can spend their time and energy where it belongs with Katie and her sisters. Hair grows back. Childhood doesn’t.’
Normand told the outlet that she recently had her niece’s name tattooed on her arm as a reminder to keep working hard to help Katie.
‘She is amazing, and I’m proud of her and I’m proud of her strength, and I just love her,’ Katie’s aunt added.
Within hours of their story reaching the public, Cajun Navy 2016 reached out to the family on Tuesday and offered to pay for the first four to six months of their rent on a rental home once they find one.
‘We were founded as neighbors helping neighbors and we feel blessed to be ale to continue that mission,’ Jon and Laurie Bridgers, the founders of the non-profit, told UWK.
The organization paid for the family to live in a Cincinnati hotel until Thursday, at which point they are booked into an extended stay suite until August 18 with hopes they would be able to find a rental home for the remainder of the year.
‘Feels like we can breathe again for a bit for sure,’ Breann told the outlet.
‘We never imagined we would receive that kind of support and now with that the Cajun Navy is going to do for us, it’s just what we’ve been praying for.’
Cajun Navy 2016 reached out to the family and offered to pay for the first four to six months of their rent. The non-profit also paid for the family to live in a hotel until they find a rental home
‘It’s unbearable to think about the anguish her sisters will face when they’re left without their sibling,’ Austin said
In early July, Austin wrote on Facebook: ‘As her parent, I’d go to any extent to save her, but DIPG is an unrelenting force that destroys everything in its path.
‘The pain of knowing her outcome is devastating, and I’m consumed by fear as I watch family after family suffer the same fate.’
‘It’s unbearable to think about the anguish her sisters will face when they’re left without their sibling,’ he said.
The heartbroken father described his daughter as ‘truly beautiful and lovely sweet girl who undoubtedly doesn’t deserve the challenges of cancer.’
