About Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)

CrimsonShark Yesterday, I was browsing through the worst diseases list and it really wasn't a surprise that 1st place happened to be Cancer. Anyway, I decided to add something new to the post so I added in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (Or DIPG,so we're gonna be calling that for the rest of this post) into the list. I then gave off a brief description about what the disease was about and I left it there, hoping that someone would come over and hopefully get interested in the topic and talk about on what can be done in the future to cure this form of Brain tumor.

Turns out, this is also the very first time that anybody, let alone a user mentioned anything about DIPG. However, I believe that this disease is a topic that should be known and the word should be spread about.

DIPG is a highly aggressive tumor that targets the brain and severely damages the pons and medulla (Which are part of the brain stem), causing the affected to gradually lose the ability to enact normal everyday actions, such as walking, talking or even standing up. To further add insult to the injury, the ones who do catch DIPG are children aged between 3 to 7 and the survival rate is 0%

Yeah, that's the harsh reality of DIPG. Once a child catches this, there's barely any chance whether the kid would survive.

So, I was going through DIPG stories on Instagram (Yes, I read articles and get some information on Instagram, not just selfies or fantastic photography) and I happen to follow a user who dedicates her page to children who have passed away. So, with this said, a lot of the children who were listed were afflicted by DIPG before they sadly died.

One of the most popular and saddest cases of a documented child who passed away of DIPG was Katherine Marie King (Or better known as "Katherine the Brave"). I've looked up to Katherine's Instagram page for some time, and the more I read, the more immersed and emotional I get. From what I've read on, she was lovely, sweet girl who loved her family, who wanted to make sure she got the best of her before passing away. She eventually died on June 6th 2016, aged only 7 so the thought of her youth saddens me, considering she had so much to live up for, but at the same time, its a reminder that you've got to make the best out of your life, no matter what. In addition, I've searched up Google on diagnosed kids, curious and determined to read about what they had to go through and any evidence whether a cure would be found.

Alongside Katherine, I would like to mention a few other patients, such as Gabriella Miller, Elena Desserich, Logan Asher Kinkin and Tyler James Hallsey. My condolences and may they all rest in peace :(.

All of this makes DIPG among one of the most researched topics on my mind (There's a lot, but listing them would take a lot of time). It's something that I absolutely despise, but at the same time, I read about it and I look at images and articles on diagnosed kids as an act of honor. And as I've said before, my main reason to write this blog post is because I want to spread awareness and get everyone to know about how physically and emotionally damaging and catastrophic DIPG could be.

If any TopTenner out there has time or a chance, think about DIPG for a moment. Heck, think about donating some money for funding. Your generosity may lead to researchers and scientists finally finding a cure to DIPG. You'd be real hero if you did so :).

Thanks for reading :). In addition, do you think it's okay for me to make a list for DIPG victims? I'm saying this as I would like to honor them in this site as well.

Comments

RIP Katherine and her inspiring pals :(. Great post Crimson. - TwilightKitsune

RIP - visitor