Tanner, our first-born child, was born August 14th, 1996. Like many first-time parents, we were naïve, but enthusiastic about being parents. We tried very hard to give Tanner everything we could as parents – and we did. But a time came in July of 1998, when Tanner was almost two years old, that we could not give him what he needed – treatment for a brain tumor. We knew as parents for quite some time before Tanner was diagnosed that he was sick. He hit many of his milestones in his first year of life early. He crawled, walked, talked, and seemed to us to be a normal healthy child until he was about 16 months when everything began to change. We were living in Texas at the time.

When Tanner began his decline in health, we were obviously concerned. Instead of doing all of the wonderful things that toddlers do, Tanner did quite the opposite. He regressed dramatically over a period of 6 months. He became very irritable, lethargic, and wanted to be held often. He stopped eating and vomited frequently. One thing we will never forget is Tanner frequently crying and telling us “head hurt and my head, my head!” while he was holding it with both hands. We took Tanner to his pediatrician weekly and towards May of 1998, sometimes more than once per week, plus called and talked to a nurse in between doctor visits. We believe they were beginning to think we were overreacting as parents. We almost always got the same advice and diagnoses of earache, sore throat, sinus problems, and he’s just a toddler wanting his parent’s attention and testing boundaries. During routine well child visits, children’s heads are always measured, but not during sick visits. If Tanner’s head had been measured each time we went in, it would have been obvious his head size was increasing rapidly due to hydrocephalous caused by his golf ball size tumor. If Tanner had been diagnosed sooner, he probably wouldn’t have needed a shunt.

In May of 1998 we made the decision to move to the Denver area after Matt accepted a new job. We moved to Denver June 28th, 1998 – all the while, Tanner’s health was worsening right before our eyes. He slept a lot, was irritable, and quit talking and walking; because he couldn’t. We had lived in Denver for less than a week, when we realized Tanner was in dire need of medical attention. Being new to the Denver area, we did not yet have a family doctor or pediatrician, so we relied on our family for resources. Tanner’s parents both grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Stephanie’s mother is a pediatric nurse. With the help of Stephanie’s mom, we were able to take Tanner to a pediatrician we knew and trusted in Cheyenne – in fact one of the same doctors who treated us as children – Dr. Robert Leland.

On July 7, 1998 we heard the words we will never forget – “I’m sorry, but Tanner has a brain tumor.” Dr. Leland told us to take Tanner immediately to The Children’s Hospital in Denver. He said to go directly to 5 North and two doctors will be waiting for you – Dr. Michael Handler and Dr. Nick Foreman – both experts in their respective fields. He said “drive safely, but quickly” and with the help of Stephanie’s mom, we arrived at Children’s about two and a half hours later. Making the phone call to Matt’s mom and step dad was one of the hardest phone calls he’d ever made. They made it to the hospital before we did and were anxiously awaiting our arrival.  By the time we arrived, Tanner had urgent needs and was in critical condition. It’s hard to remember all of the details of that life-changing day, but one thing we remember very clearly is from the moment we entered The Children’s Hospital, we were treated like our son was the only patient in the hospital. We were met immediately by Dr. Handler, who is a pediatric neurosurgeon, around 7:00 p.m. He was so calm and reassuring at a very stressful time. In fact, he gave us his direct pager number and said to call him at any time during the night if we had a question. This was amazing to us that a doctor would make himself so accessible – he was there for us and for Tanner from the very beginning and still is today. Dr. Handler is not only Tanner’s neurosurgeon, but he’s become a close family friend to numerous members of our family.

Around 8:30 p.m., while Tanner was being monitored closely in an observation room, we met Dr. Nick Foreman, a pediatric neuro-oncologist. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days (and probably hadn’t) and presented with a very thick British accent. We didn’t really comprehend much of what either doctor had to say, but what we did feel was a high level of concern and support from the very beginning. Both Dr. Handler and Dr. Foreman did an excellent job of preparing us for what the next few days would bring. That first night was touch-and-go for Tanner and his condition was worsening by the hour due to the size of the tumor and the pressure inside his head. We worried he would not survive the night. Very early the next morning we were met again by both doctors who were visibly concerned about Tanner. They knew surgery needed to take place quickly, but also knew the surgery would be long and the operating room was booked solid. They made the decision to install a Becker Drain to relieve the fluid pressure in Tanner’s head. This helped in the short term, but Tanner was still not doing well. Dr. Handler scrambled to get the OR scheduled for Tanner’s surgery to remove the tumor.

On July 9, 1998 Tanner underwent a 9-hour surgery to remove his brain tumor. We still vividly remember Stephanie being very reluctant to let Tanner out of her arms to go to the operating room and time was of the essence. It was a fearful experience to have Tanner rapidly taken from her arms by a nurse who literally ran with him to the OR. The tumor was located at the base of the brain stem in an area difficult for operating. During the surgery, we waited tensely in the waiting room on the second floor. We were updated every hour by nurse’s, which made things a little easier. When the surgery was finally complete, Dr. Handler came into the waiting room wearing a crazy looking hand-painted lab coat. He shared with us Tanner required two units of blood during the surgery. He felt confident he was able to get the entire tumor, which meant it was not entangled in Tanner’s brain tissue, which was good news.

After the surgery we learned from the pathology reports that Tanner’s tumor was an Ependymoma. The long-term outlook for this type of tumor is not positive, and what made things worse is Ependymomas do not respond to chemotherapy. Tanner spent 3 weeks in the hospital recovering. He required another surgery to install a ventricular shunt because his head could not handle the pressure from the trauma of the tumor on its own. He also had a Broviac installed which is a direct line into a main artery for chemotherapy infusion and blood draws. When Tanner finally was well enough to go home, we all celebrated what we considered to be a small miracle. Two weeks later we celebrated his 2nd birthday. The day before all his hair fell out due to the chemotherapy.

Due to Tanner’s age, and the current research on Ependymomas in 1998, radiation therapy was not a recommended treatment. Dr. Foreman did recommend a regimen of chemotherapy for Tanner he felt may help determine if any residual tumor was present. Tanner began chemotherapy about a week after he was released from the hospital. He received three rounds of outpatient chemotherapy. He went to the infusion room at Children’s for three days straight for 6-8 hours per day of infusion and then had three weeks at home to recover before his next three day treatment. Keeping a two year old entertained for 6-8 hours was a challenge for Stephanie, but she found that Children’s was well equipped to keep Tanner entertained. Both of his grandmothers took turns helping Stephanie out, as well. Tanner actually enjoyed many of his chemo-days playing with all of the toys and making his mom pull him all through the hallways of the hospital in the little red wagons – with the infusion pump, tubes, wires, and other equipment in tow. One of the most impressive things through all of this was the doctors and nurses continuous support. Both Dr. Handler and Dr. Foreman made personal phone calls to our home to check on Tanner and both took the time to visit and spend a great deal of time with Stephanie and Tanner on Tanner’s chemo days. Both doctors also provided us with their e-mail addresses, which helped a great deal to ease fears when we had questions. A level of service far above and beyond the norm.

We have had many more difficult experiences with Tanner as he has fought this disease. In January of 1999, Tanner had a second-look-surgery because it was possible he had residual tumor. We were lucky this was not the case at that time. We had some good news in May of 1999; Ellie, our daughter, was born. Tanner is an excellent big brother. On February 13 of 2001, Tanner fell at home and was unable to stand or walk. He was rushed to Children’s by Stephanie in a snowstorm (dad was at a Nugget’s game – front row). When Tanner arrived at the ER both Dr. Handler and Dr. Foreman were waiting for Stephanie. A CT scan was performed and it was confirmed Tanner’s tumor had relapsed. Both doctors were visibly shaken by this event and took the time to stay with Stephanie and Tanner until Matt could arrive – again, extremely impressive.

Tanner had surgery on February 19 of 2001 to remove the Ependymoma relapse. This time he was only in the hospital for 6 days. After this surgery Dr. Foreman explained to us that Tanner’s odds for survival were not good, but he wanted us to proceed with radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Tanner received 33 rounds of radiation at the Anschutz Cancer Pavilion at the Fitzsimons Medical Complex. This was a daily event for Tanner and Stephanie five days per week for several months. During radiation he received 2 rounds of oral chemo.

After this round of treatment Tanner enjoyed more time with his family doing the things he loved, but again in May of 2004 Tanner’s tumor relapsed. This time the tumor was found as part of a routine MRI scan and was small, but still required surgery and follow-up treatment. Tanner came through the surgery without incident and was actually dismissed 3 days later from the hospital directly from ICU, which is unheard of. After he came back home, Tanner received 3 rounds of Radiosurgery, again at the Anschutz Cancer Pavilion. After this course of treatment Tanner experienced many problems with his shunt and had several surgeries to fix it.  He also experienced excruciating headaches for almost a year. They are less frequent and severe now. But, true to his spirit, he fought these headaches with the same tenacity he has fought everything else in his life.

Currently Tanner lives a normal life. He goes to school and loves to do all of the things boys his age like to do. He has a charming personality and served as an ambassador for The Children’s Hospital during 2003. Tanner loves people, and people are drawn to him. He is an amazing kid. He is a hero to his parents – and maybe even his sister, too.

Tanner’s battle has impacted many people positively and we have already made a difference in impacting the research in the field of pediatric tumors of the brain and spine. To honor Dr. Michael Handler and Dr. Nick Foreman, who have not only saved Tanner’s life, but become personal friends with us as well, we have brought interested friends and family together to create two endowed chairs – one for each doctor respectively. Dr. Michael Handler proudly holds The McMurry Seebaum Chair in Pediatric Neurosurgery and Dr. Nick Foreman proudly holds the Tanner Seebaum Zach Tschetter Chair in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology. Both chairs have brought in contributions of over 2 million dollars each.

Bringing us to this point has been a natural progression of our passion for finding a cure for pediatric cancer. Honoring Tanner and all he stands for with a foundation bearing his name just makes good sense, especially since we are raising money for a largely under funded area of research. We hope you will join us as we continue to raise awareness and funds to assist in treating and eradicating this terrible disease.

Sincerely,

Matt and Stephanie Seebaum