Meet Hope 

Meet Hope - a 15-year-old battling Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.  In December 2020, an ER physician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital diagnosed her headaches and dizzy spells as Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma (JPA).  Just two days after her diagnosis, Hope underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and the surgeon also found Hydrocephalus - a condition where extra fluid places pressure on the brain.  She endured a craniotomy with two plates inserted and a three-inch incision behind her right ear to remove the tumor.  Hope spent almost a week in the ICU as she recovered.  Hope underwent MRI scans every three months post-op for two years. 

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While her tumor has not grown back, she continued to experience ongoing headaches/migraines - even with several medications and excruciating occipital nerve-blocking injections in the back of her head, but nothing worked.  She continues to leave early from school or completely misses out due to headaches, dizziness, chest pains, and heart palpitations, which led her doctors to a new diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) in December 2022.