Meet the Sierra Manning Family
Chad - soon to be married to Alicia Josh - wife Jess and son Michael Matt - wife Alexis and son Ayden Elicia - husband David and baby girl Athens Nicole age 16 and at home Sierra age 7
Our Story
When Sierra started kindergarten she started complaining of a headache
and upset tummy. She never had a fever but would throw up and then
feel better. This soon became a weekly thing. With her being in
kindergarten and not liking school we figured that she was faking it.
In October of 2005, we really started to notice that she would talk
and smile out of the right side of her mouth. By January of 2006, she
fell on the playground and landed face first, the nurse called and
said she was accidently pushed by another student. She started to be
more off balance, started favoring and not using her right hand and
would kick her right foot outward when walking. On February 23, 2006
(her 6th birthday), she was not only favoring her right hand but was
not able to straighten her fingers from a fist position. We thought
she might have a pinched nerve so we took her to the doctor on
February 27, 2006 at 9:30am. The doctor sent us to have a CT scan at
11:30 the same day. After the scan was done we were told to sit in
the waiting room. Within 5 minutes a radiologist came out with films
in hand and sent us right back to our family doctor. We arrived at
the doctor where we were then told Sierra had a 2" brain tumor. We
were then sent to directly to Iowa City and Sierra was admitted by 3pm
the same day. It was the worst day of our lives.
Sierra was diagnosed with a Pilocytic Astrocytoma brain tumor located
on her brainstem. Her first surgery was March 3, 2006, they were only
able to remove enough for a biopsy. On March 7th she went into
surgery again and they went through the top of her skull and were able
to remove 50-75% of the tumor. We were told by the doctors on March
6th that it was a cancerous tumor, second worst day of my life.
Sierra started the first of 12 rounds of chemo on April 6, 2006. On
April 17th, Sierra was complaining of a headache, we rushed her to
Iowa City. Due to the tumor on the stem, it was blocking her cranial
drainage so she was rushed into emergency surgery to have a shunt put
in to drain the fluid. Sierra finished her chemo treatments in March
2007. The MRI's show that the tumor didn't shrink in size over the
last 3 treatments. They do believe that the remaining tumor tissue is
dead but no way to confirm without doing a biopsy. Sierra will have
to be monitored every 2-3 months for the next 5 years. Sierra's first
MRI after the end chemo was July 19th, 2007. At this point we will see
if the tumor remains stagnant.
During our last 18 months we have come to know many wonderful people
with CMN and DM. Our family rep Katie Serbus is awesome and we feel
like she is part of the family. Sierra has had the opportunity to be
involved in commercials, billboards, radiothons, banquets to help
raise money for CMN and DM. We have been more than happy to help and
feel priviledge to be asked. The numerous people we have met with DM
is amazing, we have made a lot of new friends. DM has eased some of
the burden of a hospital stay with the funds they raise. The parking
passes and meal vouchers are great. It may seem like a small token
but to a family who is stuck at a hospital it helps greatly. All the
students who participate in DM go above and beyond to show the
families that they care. Everytime we have been in for a long
hospital stay we have several of the kids take time out of the busy
schedules and come to visit and play games with Sierra. I can't even
began to name them all, I have to keep this under 500 words! We have
only atteneded one DM and it was awesome and we can't wait until next
year. The emotions during those 24hrs are overwhelming. At some
point in that 24hr period, each of us had a moment of teary emotions
(me more than once).
Our family has been great support for us during this time. Sierra is
the youngest of 6 children and is also an Aunt.
Thanks for the awesome things you do DM, we applaud each and everyone of you!!
Story written by JoDee Manning
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