(pager beeping)
- [Man] Where is she?
- I love you.
- [Man] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Mum] We found out that Isaiah had a brain tumor
about five days ago.
- [Man] Fine, fine.
(gentle lively melody)
- Ready, one, two, three.
He's two and a half years old.
- Don't fall baby.
- I'm right here.
- Right here, where you goin'?
Peek-a-boo!
He was a surprise blessing.
- [Dad] Our older boys Noah and Elijah
prayed for three years to have a younger sibling,
and like eh no.
Then it was like, guess what?
God has different plans.
- Ah you got me tackled on the ground.
- Ooh, you give such good kisses.
- Push him away.
- Hey!
- [Brother] Good shot!
(brother screams)
- [Brother] Ouch!
(boys laughing)
- [Mum] Who's in the mirror, who's that?
- Iya, I, I, I, I.
- [Mum] Who is it?
- Isaiah.
- [Dad] About two weeks Isaiah started to have
some headaches.
(Isaiah crying)
- Don't cry, it's okay, it's okay.
Shh, okay, okay.
(Isaiah crying)
- Shh, shh, shh, shh.
(Isaiah crying)
- You guys go and find something quiet to do.
(Isaiah crying)
- Okay, shh, it's okay.
When mommy's kisses,
don't make everything better anymore,
it's not cool.
Not at all.
It's okay honey.
I love you.
The tumor in Isaiah's head is
wrapped around the stem of his brain,
pretty much all over the really sensitive nerves that
run your entire body.
(slow dramatic music)
It's a very, very delicate place to be.
He's got nerves coming all up,
he's got main arteries and main veins,
and just one little tiny
half of a hair breadth away,
you could cause a lot of damage.
So it's very, very serious.
You know I could either lose him,
or he could lose some of his functions,
and all this wonderfulness of him,
will either have to be relearned or lost.
I'm very well aware of the reality of it.
(slow dramatic music)
I'm afraid but I don't let that rule me,
because I wanna enjoy every second with my son.
I am scared but I just always hear myself saying,
don't worry, pray.
- It requires a very careful
skull base approach through here.
We're gonna monitor all the nerves
that go to his face on that side,
during the surgery.
And it's our goal to monitor those nerves
in order to preserve them all.
(slow dramatic music)
- Any time we do any kind of surgery like this,
there's always risks.
The most worrisome risk would be the risk
of damage to the arteries here.
So it's gonna be very important to, like I said,
preserve those arteries,
identify them as they come in through the neck.
(slow dramatic music)
- [Mum] He's the beat of my heart.
You know your children are born and you love them,
and you fall in love with them more and more each day.
So um, I adore him.
He's my gift from God and
I love him with everything that I am.
(slow dramatic music)
- The tumor's working it's way in and out of his nerves.
It's painstaking removing a tumor piece by piece.
- [Mum] 12 hours we sat there
while they picked a tumor out of my baby's brain.
It is gonna take an absolute miracle
for him to come out of this unscathed. (sobs)
Here's my beautiful Isaiah.
Mommy loves you so much.
They, they got it all out.
12 hours of picking a tumor off my son's brain,
and Doctor Wehman and Doctor Olavaria,
my heroes,
got it all out.
We ended up living in the PICU for nine and half weeks.
It seemed like the brain surgery was a home run but,
all the after effects really did him in for a while and
we almost lost him a couple times.
He just wasn't strong enough
for his nerves to get better quick enough.
So he ended up having a trach put in.
Isaiah going outside for the first time in six weeks
since he's brain surgery.
I went from
wanting this perfect child physically and mentally,
to just being happy that he was alive.
Don't bang Papa.
Oh no, no, no, he thinks it's funny (laughing)
Are you painting Isaiah?
You're so good at that.
Say I love you.
- Love you.
- [Brother] Okay, jump on me, jump on me.
- [Mum] Okay, he can't just dive like that, Isaiah.
Who needs therapy when you've brothers right.
You don't give up hope, you can't.
You might in the back of your head,
think oh my goodness if I'm going to live without him,
how could I do this?
And you might think of what you might do if it happened,
but you don't give up hope.
It's just not an option.
- Hi buddy.
- [Mum] They make is so much fun, he looks forward to going.
You've got a little bit yucky here,
I don't know why.
- [Isaiah] It's yucky. - [Mum] Yeah it's yucky.
(lively fiddle music)
- It's a good day.
It's a very good day.
(lively fiddle music)
(bell ringing)
(staff cheering)
We're not at the ending.
We're done with this chapter.
- But I have time.
They gave me more time with my son.
And I woke up the other day,
and he was laying beside me and
I smelled his hair, and I felt his heart beat,
and I heard his breathing.
And I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness to God
for bringing all the people that
allowed me to have more time.
(lively fiddle music)