Boy, 3, Awaits Brain Tumor Treatment

In and out of hospitals since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1993, 3-year-old Joshua Hauke is still waiting for a cure.

Joshua last week went to a hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to undergo an experimental chemotherapy treatment, but he returned this weekend after doctors there said they could not treat the boy.

Because his tumor--located at the base of his brain--is so small, doctors at the clinic said they would be unable to monitor the progress of the treatment, said his mother, Tammy.

“They needed it to be measurable to see if the drugs were working,” she said.

The couple were left with the options of either waiting for the tumor to grow larger or putting their son under radiation therapy.

In the past they were concerned about the radiation treatments, worried that the therapy would cause brain damage.

Today, the Haukes will take Joshua to UCLA Medical Center to discuss the radiation treatment with specialists.

“We want to find out what the potential side effects will be,” his mother said.

Joshua has already endured more than a year of chemotherapy and 10 operations that have left him with nerve damage and hooked up to a feeding tube, but still doctors have been unable to eliminate the cancer. that has attached itself to his brain.

In the many attempts to cut away the tumor, once the size of a golf ball, the Haukes say that doctors have nicked Joshua’s brain stem causing nerve damage that has left him with crossed eyes, blurred vision and difficulty walking.