Nine-year-old Jolean Scott spent the summer with her family swimming, going to the movies, making art projects and hanging out along the Animas River. In August, her life took a dramatic turn when the former Bayfield Elementary School student was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
It is a rare, aggressive cancer that came on fast, said her father, Eric Scott, during an interview last week with The Durango Herald.
“We are living every family’s darkest nightmare,” the family’s GoFundMe page says. “The diagnosis had a shattering impact on our family. It’s like a bomb went off. In an instant our lives were turned upside down. We were devastated, frightened and shocked into disbelief. Jolean? A brain tumor? What? Why? How could this be? Our sweet Jolean. Oh, dear God this can’t be true!”
In June, Jolean vomited during swim meets with the Durango Swim Club – symptoms her parents thought were related to motion sickness and other common causes, said her mother, Mia Scott. The vomiting was followed by other gastric problems and paralysis on her left side.
“She couldn’t even walk straight,” her father said.
Her family took her to the emergency room and then a primary care clinic, but the doctors couldn’t immediately identify her malady. Her parents took her back to the emergency room on Aug. 21, where an MRI revealed a tumor on Jolean’s brain stem. That same day, she was taken to Denver by helicopter so she could be treated at Colorado Children’s Hospital. Her MRI was sent ahead, and about 20 minutes after she arrived, she was diagnosed, Mia said.
She spent seven weeks in Denver with her parents and her siblings, Cassidy Ann, 10, and Cecil, 6. The family returned to Bayfield on Friday.
Radiation is expected to reduce the size of Jolean’s tumor and some of her paralysis, but it will be about four weeks before doctors can determine how effective the treatment was, Eric said.
“They don’t know whether the tumor is growing through the radiation; it’s so aggressive,” he said
Between 150 to 300 patients are diagnosed with the rare cancer each year, and most patients survive about eight to 11 months, according to the Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma Resource Network.
Jolean could be a candidate for some clinical trials to treat her cancer, but that will depend on how her tumor responded to radiation, Mia said.
“They say there is no cure, but there is always hope,” she said.
Mia said she also plans to explore alternative treatments to extend Jolean’s life and give her back some of the physical independence she has lost.
The active little girl plays baseball, soccer and is a member of the Durango Swim Club. She swims for her grandmother and the toy rubber ducks swimmers take home when they win a heat at a swim meet, Mia said.
Animals are another one of her passions. She plans to adopt a bunny, chameleon and barking gecko.
“They are really, really cool,” Jolean said of reptiles during a Skype interview with the Herald.
In coming months, Eric and Mia plan to travel with their daughter as long as she is well enough to enjoy it.
Jolean has already qualified for a Make-A-Wish Foundation trip, and her parents may take her to swim with dolphins, Eric said.
While the family was staying in Denver, Eric and Mia took Jolean swimming, to baseball games, the zoo, the aquarium and other attractions. The Children’s Hospital also threw her a birthday party on Aug. 28.
The family’s GoFundMe page has raised about $30,800 of the $105,000 goal needed to cover medical costs and household expenses. Eric and Mia haven’t been working since Jolean’s diagnosis because they have been trying to spend as much time as possible with their daughter.
Eric said the family has received “tremendous” support from residents of La Plata County.
They have received cards, texts, toys, stuffed animals, clothes and enough gifts to fill a U-Haul, Mia said.
“It’s unbelievable how much people rallied together to support our kid,” Eric said.
To donate to the Scott family, visit gofundme.com/a-gift-of-time-for-jolean-scott.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
