Go Gold in September for Childhood Cancer Awareness| Cade Perdue

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Cade Asher Perdue was born on August 20, 2010 to the proud parents of Stephanie and Brian and siblings Kayley, Colby, and Madison.  Cade was a happy, smiling boy with a wonderful personality and a heart of gold. He never had any chronic illnesses and only suffered from an occasional cold.  Cade spent his time playing with his three older siblings and the neighborhood kids, riding his scooter, jumping on the trampoline, running around, dancing, listening to music, and playing football.  He was an active kid, participating in the everyday “normal” toddler activities.  Cade completed our family.

On Wednesday, March 27, 2013, our lives would begin to change forever.  Cade woke that morning and we noticed that his balance was off while he was walking.  After eating breakfast, Cade seemed to be more stable so we took him to his early learning program.  That afternoon the school called for Cade to be picked up early. His teacher was concerned because Cade was falling down, lethargic, and not acting like himself.  We immediately took Cade to an urgent care office and were told he had an ear infection.  This diagnosis concerned us because Cade was currently taking Cephalexin for eczema and he didn’t have the usual symptoms he had during previous ear infections. The next morning, Cade was taken to his primary care physician where we were told to wait a few more days and if symptoms didn’t improve that we needed to bring him back in.

Over the next few days, Cade started walking with a wide based stance.  He would hold onto furniture and walls to maintain his balance. Cade’s speech slowed, his eye-hand coordination was off, and he would tilt his head to one side.  Our guts continued to tell us “this is not ear related”.  We scheduled another appointment with his primary care physician who immediately referred us to a neurologist. The neurologist office worked Cade into their schedule.  Due to the symptoms we had reported, it was thought Cade might have a viral infection affecting his cerebellum. Cade was sent home and an MRI was scheduled for the following week.  The next day Cade’s pupils were dilated, he was more lethargic, and he vomited.  We couldn’t bear to wait a week for the MRI, so on April 5, 2013, Cade was taken to the ER at Banner Cardon Children’s Hospital. The CT scan showed a mass in his cerebellum.  Cade was immediately admitted to the PICU to start tests, surgery, and biopsy of the mass.

On April 9, 2013, following the surgery to remove the tumor, we were told that our amazing little boy had a high risk medulloblastoma with leptomeningeal metastases (spread to the covering of his brain and into his spine). We had so many questions about this disease because we knew nothing. Why him? Was he born with it? Was he exposed to something? Was it his diet? Is this genetic? What is his prognosis? What is the treatment plan and where would he get the best treatment?  We made phone call after phone call and sent out emails to various medulloblastoma research facilities.  We wanted to know about all the protocols and trials available for Cade. As parents, we wanted to give him the best fighting chance and we were willing to travel to the ends of the earth for him.

Cade remained in the PICU over the next few weeks as he had set back after set back.  Following the initial surgery Cade was not responding as expected.  It was believed his cerebellum was swelling and causing pressure on his brain stem.  He was seizing and unable to breathe without the ventilator.  The following day, he was taken back to surgery to remove part of his skull and some vertebrae. This procedure was to allow his cerebellum additional room to swell without causing pressure on other vital parts of his brain.  Sadly, Cade never made it to chemotherapy.  Due to complications of Cade’s brain swelling, he passed away in our arms on April 22, 2013.  Just 17 days after diagnosis.  Cade was 2 ½ years old.

Cade

Find out more about The Cade Perdue Foundation on their Facebook page and website.

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