Deanna Snyder's Story

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Born September 5, 2006, Deanna Elizabeth Snyder was a "normal" healthy child. From the day she was born she was full of spunk and extremely strong willed, but she was also loved deeply and exhibited great grace for others. She loved going to church, spending time with her friends and family, and learning. She loved being silly and dressing girly, but she wasn't afraid to get dirty and tumble around with the boys either.

Over Christmas break 2012, at the age of 6, Deanna got ill. We chalked it up to the same viral strain that had been going around town and had struck many of the children in school. After a week or so the vomiting subsided and things went back to normal. Deanna went back to school with her peers in January 2013. She was quite emotional the first couple weeks back and we decided to take her into the Dr just to be safe. Blood work revealed an elevated white count, that was easily explained by the illness over break, but otherwise things looked fine. About a week later during breakfast with the family it became clear that something was seriously wrong. After going to a larger hospital for an MRI it was determined that there was a tumor encompassing the entire pons region of Deanna's brain. We were told this was DIPG, a form of pediatric cancer. It was rare, inoperable and 100% fatal. We were told we shouldn't expect more than 12 months with her and should say our goodbyes.

Over the next few weeks we watched as our 6 year old lost the ability to walk, to talk, and even to feed herself. She was placed on a temporary feeding tube and the doctors urged us to allow placement of a permanent one, as she was never expected to feed herself or eat solid food again. We were told she would not be able to walk or talk again and we should expect the end to come swiftly. Despite their dire predictions, and perhaps because she was just that stubborn, we watched with joy as Deanna slowly became stronger. The feeding tube was removed, she was able to speak more clearly and she was beginning to walk again after just one month. Everyone was so excited! Deanna went on for months having both good days and bad days. On December 8, 2013 after 11 months of fighting, we were on our way to the hospital to have a shunt placed to relieve some of the swelling the brain tumor had caused when we lost our Deanna. She had been doing so well that it came as quite a shock. Everyone had thought that she was going to beat the odds, but in the end the cancer stole her from us at the tender age of 7.