STARS

June 2026

Diagnosis: Grade 4 Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)

Fun Facts about Alex: “Alex loves fishing, riding his bike, fighting “bad guys” with his nerf guns at home, playing at the beach and most of all doing anything with his big sister Hayden who is 8. He wants to be a police officer when he grows up. You can find him secretly building rocket ships after we put him to bed most nights and trying to watch every scary movie he can get his hands on!”

Alex’s Cancer Journey: “It was certainly unexpected when he was diagnosed last Fall 2025. Up until his diagnosis he was a completely healthy normal little boy. We were sent at the request of his pediatrician to the ER due to some random head pain and gait disturbance we had noticed. The local ER performed a head CT where we found out he had a 4cm brain stem tumor and was transferred by ambulance to Duke where Alex underwent a brain biopsy and then diagnosed with high grade DIPG. He completed palliative high dose radiation in the fall and now is on special medications we hope are slowing his tumor growth. He is getting MRIs every 2-3 months now. We are praying for a miracle as we know the prognosis is poor and his tumor is unpredictable but we wake up everyday grateful for another day with Alex where we get to hug and kiss him.”

How JTI Helped: JTI provided Alex’s family with an emergency relief grant to help with transportation. His mom, Cat, describes how that has helped them:

“It paid for a car payment. My husband left his job after his FMLA ran out and he technically never went back to work since finding out Alex’s diagnosis. We have decided that we need to spend all the time we can with Alex and making memories. This helps us focus on that. Our little family couldn’t be more grateful for this help.”