Local 5-year-old recovering after doctors find spine tumors during visit for life-threatening brain condition - East Idaho News
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Local 5-year-old recovering after doctors find spine tumors during visit for life-threatening brain condition

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IDAHO FALLS — After many health scares and setbacks, a local 5-year-old is recovering while doctors figure out the next steps after finding multiple spine tumors during a hospital visit for a life-threatening brain condition.

Owen Sanchez is a strong little boy.

In September, Owen’s parents, Alejandro and Alexa Sanchez, noticed him exhibiting some concerning symptoms, causing them to take him to the emergency room.

“He was very weak, he wouldn’t eat, and he was at the point where he couldn’t walk either,” says Alejandro. “We ended up taking him to the ER because he just kind of stopped interacting with us. He would just be sitting on the couch, like, staring into space when we talked to him.”

After being seen at the emergency room, Owen was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where doctors discovered he had a large amount of fluid in his brain, known as hydrocephalus.

owenlayingdown
Owen Sanchez | Courtesy Alejandro Sanchez

In early October, after a failed first procedure, Owen had surgery to put a valve in his brain to drain the fluid. This worked for a while.

In November, EastIdahoNews.com got to meet Owen and his family, when they were given an early Christmas gift from Secret Santa. Watch that video here.

Unfortunately, last week, Owen began to have similar symptoms that he was experiencing in September, bringing him back to Primary Children’s Hospital.

“After doing a ‘shunt series,’ they determined that the shunt valve has been pulling too much fluid out of the ventricle which has caused it to shrink and in turn has caused the brain to shrink as well,” says Alejandro in a Facebook post. “Now that everything is smaller, there’s space around the brain that has filled with fluid and blood.”

Doctors replaced the valve and believed it would solve his symptoms and work as it was supposed to. Then, over the weekend, Owen began complaining of leg pain, and his parents noticed his face drooping.

Owen Sanchez
Owen Sanchez | Courtesy Alejandro Sanchez

“We told (the doctors) that he was complaining about leg pain. They said that was pretty odd given that with his condition, that’s not a symptom of what he was going through,” says Alejandro. “So they did an MRI just to make sure his head was good, and then they were like, ‘You know, let’s just check the rest of his back and his leg to see why his leg hurts.”

That’s when the family learned news that no one wants to hear. Doctors had found multiple tumors growing along Owen’s spine.

“(The tumors are) affecting his nervous system, which explains his leg, eye and face issues,” says Alejandro. “It’s unrelated to the problem with his brain, but we’ve now realized that the hydrocephalus was a tender mercy that led us to find the tumors.”

Owen had a seven-hour surgery to remove the biggest of the tumors on Tuesday, and Alejandro says the procedure was successful. But Owen has a long journey ahead.

“The tumor was more complex than we thought, but we had the best surgeon, and he was able to take care of everything. The tumor had created scar tissue around the nerves, so whenever he moved, those nerves were getting pulled and stretched. That explains the intense pain he was feeling,” says Alejandro in a Facebook post. “Honestly, I can’t fathom the actual amount of pain he was in. It’ll take some time to recover, but the nerves will be flowing freely soon!”

Alejandro says doctors have told the family that there is a high chance Owen has cancer. So far, results have come back inconclusive.

“The hardest part is not knowing. Once we find out, at least, we can come up with a game plan,” says Alejandro. “You can wonder, and your mind goes to the worst-case scenario.”

Alejandro and Alexa, who have two young daughters, a 6-year-old and a 7-month-old, who are home in Idaho Falls, say it’s been very tough on the family but that they are thankful for the support and prayers being sent their way.

Sanchez Family
The Sanchez family | Courtesy Alejandro Sanchez

“He’s already endured so much. It’s been rough mentally and we want to be positive and optimistic about everything, but a tumor is never something that as a parent, you want to hear that your child has,” says Alejandro. “Luckily, we’ve had just a flood of support, so many prayers and so many people have reached out and messaged us, and so we know that he has a big support system.”

Friends of the Sanchezes have organized a fundraiser on GiveSendGo to help the family during their time in Salt Lake City as Owen recovers and the family awaits more information about his condition and treatment options. If you’d like to donate, click here.

“I don’t like to ask for things; I like to work for things,” says Alejandro. “But right now, it’s just hard.”

Our attorneys tell us we need to put this disclaimer in stories involving fundraisers: EastIdahoNews.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries.

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