Jacob Pesta
Our sixth Inspirational Family was the Pesta family. Jacob is an eight year old little boy from Commerce Twp, MI.
On August 4, 2009, Jacob was diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive Thalamic Brain Tumor. He had just turned 5 years old. It was the most catastrophic day of their lives and every parent’s worst fear! The family learned of his brain tumor as a result of a fall that caused a concussion to the right side of his head. Jacob’s parents Shelly & Mike believe that this fall was an act of divine intervention; without it, they may never have learned of the presence of this tumor, as Jake had been asymptomatic. The MRI indicated that Jacob’s right ventricle was occluded with tumor by 90% and that he was only weeks away from having a life threatening seizure. Jacob has endured two craniotomies, which resulted in an unequivocal total resection, emergency shunt surgery, proton beam radiation for 35 days, and 126 days of aggressive chemotherapy. While Jacob was hospitalized recovering from his first craniotomy we received the pathology results from the first tumor that was removed. It came back as a grade III. On September 4, 2009 Jacob underwent his second craniotomy to remove the final chunk of tumor that remained in the Thalamus. The operation was completed successfully with no harm to Jake’s brain, and took his chances for overall survival up to between 55 – 60%. At this time, Jacob is currently being treated by doctors at U of M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Jacob is an extremely happy and confident child. He enjoys music, swimming, movies, riding his quad runner, playing video games, and he LOVES school!! Additionally, he is very thoughtful and kind to others. He is truly an inspiration to so many people.
Jacob is the son to Mike and Shelly Pesta and older brother to Kaitlyn.