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Maison Jackson
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Winner of
the $30,000 Cash Raffle was:
Judy Tobery of Baker Valley Road, Frederick
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Pictured is Judy Tobery and
Maison's Father!
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An Operation
No One Else Would Tackle
Maison Jackson
is in need of a 2nd surgery and help with
medical expenses. This fundraiser is to help
this little boy live a normal happy life. Read
below for full story or to make a donation.
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You may make a
donation towards Maison's Fundraiser to the
PPF, Inc. |
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PPF
sends a special thanks to Frederick
Aviation-Dorothy & Julie for contacting Advanced
Helicopter Concepts and making Maison's dream
come true by giving him and his parents a flying
tour of Frederick. He Loved It!!!!!!!!!!!!! God
Bless You.
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"He
plays, he's happy, he's ornery like any
2-year-old," says Tammie Jackson of her son's
recovery from his operation, "Dr. Tufaro was a
godsend."
The tumor on
18-month old Maison Jackson's face had ballooned
to the size of a softball. Appearing around the
little boy's first birthday, the mass had been
steadily enlarging week by week, distorting his
mouth, inflating his left cheek and closing his
left nostril. By the time his parents were
referred to Anthony Tufaro, a plastic surgeon
specializing in head and neck surgery, the tumor
had inched dangerously close to Maison's left
eye. At
first, physicians had told the Jacksons that the
growth was simply part of the port wine stain
Maison had been born with. The reddish facial
birthmark, characterized by an overabundance of
capillaries just beneath the skin's surface,
typically signals the presence of Sturge- Weber
syndrome, a congenital neurological disorder
that can include such symptoms as seizures,
glaucoma and excessive blood vessel growth on
the surface of the brain. When he was 8 months
old, Maison did have two seizures but ever since
then has responded well to medication. And by
the time his tumor became visible, he was
already being treated for glaucoma. Yet, despite
the progressively worsening facial disfigurement
that was also afflicting their son, the,
Jacksons heard only that there was nothing to be
done for it.
"The moment I saw
Maison,” says Tufaro, "I knew he needed an
operation. He had what's called an ossifying
fibroma - a rare tumor that's usually benign but
very aggressive. It was so large that it had
displaced his upper teeth and jaw. He couldn't
eat, he couldn't breathe, he was snoring. He was
so dysfunctional from the tumor, we had to do
something.”
Tufaro knew
immediately that the sheer size of Maison's
fibroma was worrisome-"We weren’t sure it wasn’t
cancer," he says, "and we didn't know if we'd
have to remove his eye and socket!' But what
presented one of the toughest technical
challenges was the fact that the tumor was
sitting amid a bed of dilated blood vessels. Not
only would Tufaro have to completely remove the
boy's upper jaw in order to excise the massive
growth, he would have to do so with the risk
that the child could bleed to death during the
operation.
To solve that
problem, Tufaro turned to interventional
radiologist Sally Mitchell. Mitchell first used
magnetic resonance imaging to make the tangle of
blood vessels visible, then assisted Tufaro
during the four-hour procedure by floating coils
in the vessels to limit blood flow. Even so,
says Tufaro, “I had to go slow. One blood vessel
feeding that tumor was the size of my finger.”
Tufaro was able to remove virtually all of the
5-centimeter mass, which to everyone's relief
was non-cancerous. "Maison will probably need
further reconstructive surgery down the line;'
he says, "but he bounced back one two three.
He’s growing. He’s thriving.”
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Thank you for Supporting
The
Patty Pollatos Fund
The Peoples Charity Celebrates
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Mission Statement
The Patty Pollatos Fund, Inc. is an independent and
non-sectarian 501(c)(3) and community-based non-profit that operates
with an all-volunteer workforce to educate and assist local families and
individuals in Maryland about economic opportunities, raise funds and
assist in raising funds for families during the temporary financial
strain caused by cancer, spinal cord injuries, heart, liver or kidney
transplants which knows no income level. We stand in the gap for other
non-profits in their hour of need and we also provide assistance, as
needed, with national disasters.
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Email to: debbie@ppfinc.org
Call: 301-865-2265 for more information on The PPF, Inc. Charities |
Mail Donations to:
PPF Inc.,
c/o Debbie Williams
11102 Eagletrace Drive, New Market, MD 21774-6704
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