In late 2018, young Andrew Ewertz started having headaches so bad they made him throw up. Naturally, his mom, Sara Moore took him to see their doctor, who diagnosed him with migraines.
Unfortunately, the treatment for migraines didn’t help much, so Andrew had to have an MRI. It showed a large tumor on Andrew’s cerebellum.
Doctors didn’t waste any time after that.
Andrew was airlifted to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City the same day as the MRI.
Just five days before Christmas, doctors operated to remove a medulloblastoma, a cancerous tumor that starts at the base of the skull and tends to spread into the rest of the brain and the spinal cord from there.
After the surgery, Andrew still faced a long battle.
He still needed weeks of radiation therapy as well as months of chemotherapy. And so Andrew spent Christmas in the hospital — and then his birthday in February, and then Easter.
All the while, Sara stood by her boy.
It cost her her job, and with her husband disabled and unable to work, the family had to live at the Ronald McDonald House and rely on community donations.
Thankfully, the community has been quite generous throughout the process, and the family set up a GoFundMe page to help out as well.
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Finally, nine months after learning he had brain cancer, Andrew got the good news that was going home.
“All the time that we’ve been there, I’ve always been excited, like ‘Mom when can we go home,’ and when he came in and said that I was- I was just so happy,” Andrew told KWCH.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean he’s all the way done with hospitals.
Andrew’s type of cancer has an 80% survival rate, but also has a 25% chance of recurring, and he still has to go back to treat issues related to his cancer. But Andrew is just focusing on the good stuff for now.
“After nine months of being away, it feels great to be home,” he said.
