Meet Charlie! He is five years old and battled Craniopharyngioma.

When Charlie was preparing for kindergarten, his parents were worried that he was not hitting his milestones and pushed his doctors to schedule an MRI. The results confirmed their worst nightmare. Charlie had a large brain tumor attached to his pituitary gland, which needed immediate attention. His intense treatments included two brain surgeries, multiple scans, tests, therapies, and 30 rounds of proton radiation directly to his brain.

Due to the damage caused by the tumor, Charlie has lost all vision in his left eye and nearly all vision in his right eye. He continues taking life-sustaining medicine to manage his thyroid, hypothalamus, and adrenal insufficiency.

While waiting for the radiation to affect the tumor fully, he receives follow-up scans, which involve draining the cystic part of the tumor every six weeks and scanning for progress. Recently, Charlie received promising news that his tumor had begun to shrink and will have a scan done later this spring to see if it continues to shrink.

Charlie has a huge personality for a little guy. He is upbeat and bubbly and has not met a child he dislikes. His teachers like to call him a little mayor because he walks the halls telling everyone hi and wishing them a good morning! Throughout this process, he amazes everyone with his fearlessness, strength, and bravery.

Charlie was recently in our 2023 King of Prussia Fashion Funds the Cure event and walked the runway during his Dream Walk as a Fireman!