Please celebrate and honor Cullen Wishnow as he continues his battle with his brain cancer, Medullabalstoma.  

Cullen was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor in November 2023, just a few months after he started kindergarten. In the weeks leading up to his devastating diagnosis, Cullen hadn't been eating his lunch at school and started to randomly vomit, saying he had headaches, and holding head in a strange position. Originally, the pediatrician had thought it was behavioral, but passed along contact information for a neurologist and gastroenterologist to his parents, Katy and Brian Wishnow. Cullen’s mom, Katy, who never leaves a stone unturned when it comes to her family, followed up with both specialists, and by the grace of God, they were able to get Cullen in the next day. An MRI then confirmed every parent's worst nightmare after it showed a 4 cm tumor close to the brain stem that needed an immediate six-hour surgery. In a heartbreaking turn of events, the tumor was malignant.

One week later, their sweet boy who had just been a healthy and active kindergarten student, was now gearing up for 4-6 weeks of proton radiation therapy (5 days a week for 6 weeks) followed by several rounds of intense chemotherapy. The pathology report after Cullen’s initial surgery came back as very aggressive and some of the tumor markers were very rare.

To give you an idea how rare Cullen’s cancer is, there are only 250 people diagnosed with this type of cancer each year and less than 1% of brain cancer cases have Cullen’s tumor marker. Following brain surgery to remove a tumor, only 10-20% wake up with Posterior Fossa Syndrome (PFS), a syndrome that causes problems with communication, motor skills, and mood. Cullen not only has been fighting brain cancer, but also PFS.

The surgery to remove the tumor took away Cullen's ability to talk and walk and altered his mood. So, along with radiation, Cullen has undergone several months of demanding in-patient occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy to try and regain as much movement and language skills as possible. As of now, he can take four steps unassisted and say a handful of words.

Cullen has finished two, one-month chemo cycles and has four to go. Unfortunately, an MRI in late March found more of the same cancer throughout his brain and spine. His pediatric oncologist was surprised and worried. This meant all the proton radiation therapy and light chemo didn’t do what was expected.

Due to how rare Cullen's case is, his oncologist at Lurie's shared his case with Pediatric Neuro Oncologists at all the top Children's Neuro hospitals in the United States to get their thoughts on treatment. With his aggressive chemo, Cullen’s oncologist added an additional dosage twice a week into his cerebral fluid to hopefully kill the cancer cells or stop the spread since they seem to have spread quickly over the last couple of months.

To make this happen, Cullen had an Ommaya inserted into his skull so that the chemotherapy protocol could be administered straight into the CNS fluid of his spine. Once this was placed, he started chemotherapy April 3rd.

As of now, Cullen has completed two, one-month chemo cycles and has four to go. He underwent an MRI on May 23rd to see if the cancer cells spread, stabilized, or improved. Prayers were answered and this scan showed some cancer spots on his brain and spine were gone, some were less in size, and a few remained. These amazing results are indicative of chemo doing its job. Cullen’s oncologist is thrilled with the results and the third round of chemo will start May 28th. This will involve a 2–4-night hospital stay at Lurie’s that sadly falls during his sixth birthday (May 30th), along with visits throughout the rest of the month for chemo and labs.

Cullen and his incredible family have handled this complete upheaval of their lives with grit, resilience, and unimaginable strength. His amazing parents have not only been fighting the fight alongside Cullen day in and day out, but they’re also juggling life at home with Cullen’s sister, Quinn (age 9), and Stellan (age 4) , while managing their careers. In January 2017, the Wishnow family dealt with the unexpected loss of their 6-month-old son, Mack. The Wishnow family has been forced to face unimaginable grief and heartbreak.

Despite the unthinkable, the Wishnows do all they can to give Cullen as full of a life as possible, while bringing as much normalcy as they can with his wonderful, empathetic siblings. As family members and friends of this incredible family, we ask for your support and prayers as they navigate the unknown of not only today, but the rest of their tomorrows.