Go Gray for Oaklee Event This Saturday: Entertainment and Auction

Meet little Oaklee. Oaklee was diagnosed before her first birthday with Optic Pathway Glioma. A quick little description of what that giant word means is that there is a tumor on Oaklee's optic nerve. That tumor begins to grow and starts to push on her optic nerve. As it grows and pushes on that nerve, it starts to cause vision problems that if left untreated could result in total blindness. Of all of the horrible brain tumors out there, this particular one only affects 5% of kids making it a smidge rare. It typically occurs in children under 10, and more specifically younger than 5 in most cases. This tumor can not only impact vision, but also other functions in the body such as endocrine, hormones, appetite, sleep, and even a salt imbalance. How do you treat this in such a small child? The answer is not fun.

Chemotherapy is the primary route that is taken. Look, at 39 years old Chemo was miserable for me. I can't imagine doing it at 5! The chemo helps slow down the growth of the tumor and hopefully shrinks it back down. As it shrinks, then vision becomes restored and hopefully causes the tumor to stop growing and become dormant. If chemo doesn't work, then radiation therapy is introduced which, when you introduce it around the brain and eye, things can get sketchy. They were at the base of my brain for my radiation and there were a TON of concerns during the whole process about the surrounding areas. No matter your insurance, none of these procedures or treatments are cheap, especially when a child is concerned. The younger they are, the more a specialist you need. Those guys and gals are NOT cheap! That's where we all come in to help.

A benefit will be held this weekend at the CFMA Building in Lake Charles, 3481 E. Prien Lake Road. "Go Gray for Oaklee" will be an all-day event packed with entertainment, food, silent auction items, and live auction items. There will be raffles throughout the day, split the pot, face painting, bouncy houses for the kids, and way more! It will truly be a huge family event as we come together and help out this precious little girl. All monies raised will go towards travel expenses and the stacks of medical bills as Oaklee fights her way through this part of her life. If it helps you any, Kenny Kyle and I will be doing the auction and I will be MCing the event.