On Friday, SMSA had the Rodriguez family attend morning meeting to present to them a check for $1,600 that was raised from the 50/50 raffle at the Adirondack Thunder hockey game on 4/15.
The family was beyond shocked at this and cannot thank us enough for all of our love, prayer, and support during this difficult time. Through surgery and chemo, his tumor has shrunken so that only 30% of the mass is still remaining. On Monday, Rodrigues family are taking Aiden to NYC to participate in a clinical trial that will hopefully shrink the remaining tumor to a point that his neurosurgeon can remove all that remains and that the family can get to a new "normal".
About Aiden Rodriguez
This September, one of our SMSA families heard devastating news that has turned their lives upside down for the past 6 months. The Rodriguez family currently has a third grade student, Caleb, at SMSA, and they have a second child Aiden, who attended SMSA last year but due to special needs moved to another school.
In September Aiden had an MRI after showing a slight tremor in the left side of his body. The results of this MRI was the news no family should ever have to hear, Aiden had a brain tumor. Aiden was rushed to Albany Med PICU and the next day went in for a 9 hour surgery to remove the baseball sized tumor in his brain. That day the surgeon was able to remove 15% of the tumor, but the Rodriguez’s were told more devastating news, Aiden’s tumor was malignant and he had brain cancer. After testing it was determined that Aiden has a genetic mutation that is the cause of his cancer, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma.
These past seven months have been extremely hard on Patty, Jason, Caleb, and of course Aiden as they have navigated this new normal for their family. Caleb has been cared for by family and close family friends so that Patty and Jason can be with Aiden 24/7. Patty and Jason have also had to take a leave of absence from work as Aiden has gone through multiple chemotherapy treatments, and six more brain surgeries since January 31st. These last surgeries have allowed the doctors to remove 70% of the original tumor, but not without Aiden struggling at times to survive. These surgeries resulted in Aiden spending 21 days in the PICU.
This week, Aiden will to go to NYC to undergo a clinical trial where chemo will be injected into the tumor to shrink the remaining tumor to a size that will allow his amazing neurosurgeon to remove what is left. This procedure will allow Aiden to begin to get back to a new “normal” in his young life. Patty and Jason are an amazing set of parents who have taken this diagnosis and change to their life in stride. They could use all the help that our SMSA family can give them and know that every little bit helps them as they navigate saving Aiden’s life as well as giving Caleb all he needs.