Pounding headaches lead to scary diagnosis: Brain tumor

Mallory Moore’s parents help rouse the 13-year-old after brain surgery. Leah, her mother, knew that Mallory’s headaches were more than migraines.

Mother's intuition says her daughter's headaches are more than migraines.

Mallory Moore's mother, Leah, talks about coping with her daughter's frightening diagnosis and surgery. As told to Heather Elise Duge

"I thought Mallory’s headaches were migraines.That’s what our local doctors had told us.She’d been suffering from the headaches for a month, and they were getting progressively worse.So when the pounding became so intense that my 13-year-old daughter couldn’t even stand up on her own, I knew something wasn’t right.I took her to a local emergency room.A neurologist took scans of her head and found a racquet-ball sized mass in the back of her head.At that point, we were sent to Children’s Medical Center.

At Children’s, an MRI indicated that she’d need surgery, and Mallory was given steroids to help the swelling in her brain.All the details were very scary.We used the term "cyst" instead of "tumor" because it was easier for all of us to digest.

We hadn’t packed a bag to stay at the hospital, so a social worker brought us the essentials.Also, they understood that Mallory’s a teenager and had different needs than the younger children.

Mallory started raising hard questions like "Do I have cancer?" and "Am I going to die?" I didn’t have all the answers, but I did know this was the only chance she had to get rid of the headaches.

Two days later, they started prepping Mallory for surgery.The closer it got to surgery time, the more anxious Mallory became.Child life specialists helped Mallory and her sister understand and cope with the reality of it all.It was also really important to Mallory to feel fresh and clean before surgery.So the nurses made sure I had some extra time to take Mallory to a shower.

I was surprised to see Dr. Ortega, the anesthesiologist, come by the room before surgery.She stayed with us until the moment they wheeled Mallory to the operating room.She gave Mallory medication to calm her nerves.By the time we had to say goodbye, she was almost asleep.

Dr. Weprin was our neurosurgeon.We waited for his updates from the operating room.He worked on her tumor, which we later found out had to be removed in fragments.The best news was the pathology result.They determined from a piece of the tumor that it wasn’t malignant.We really needed to hear that.

I didn’t know what to expect when my husband, David, and I went to the recovery room to see her.She looked perfect.I stroked her long, blonde hair, asking if she could hear me.It felt like a dream.My daughter just had a mass removed from her brain.It didn’t seem real, but I was so glad to see her.Mallory nodded her head and mouthed "water." Tears welled up in my eyes.This gesture meant she probably wouldn’t have significant lasting effects from the tumor or the surgery.

Dr.Weprin made sure to have her hair washed with baby shampoo and saline.Her head was covered in braids.I thought it was so sweet for the doctors to take the time to do that.

And Mallory appreciated it, too.As soon as she woke up, she felt her hair and smiled."