This website is made in memory of my beloved son Jimmy (or Dimitris in Greek), who passed away in November 2014, hit by Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), one of the rarest and most aggressive brain tumors...
I was not sure whether or not I should make Jimmy's story public, but finally I couldn't find any reason not to do it... Everyone should know about this awful disease, and everyone should know the story of my little boy who fought an uneven battle against it like a true hero. Medicine was not our ally... Existing protocols are limited and usually ineffective, while clinical trials may look promising but they have a long way still to go.
As parents, we did everything a human being could do. But most importantly we stood next to our child with extreme love, and made each day count. We had strong faith and were looking for a miracle until the last second... And that is the only way to go, without faith things would be worse.
In this website I describe the time period from disease diagnosis to the end... It took exactly one year minus 9 days. 356 days that were spent as the last one... 356 days where we, as family, tried to give as more as possible to our kid... 356 days, that despite doctor's negativism, we never lost faith.
During all this time, we saw people that we considered "friends" to disappear, and other people, not so close to us until that moment, to treat us as family. No bad feelings for the first, gratitude and respect for the others.
We met and talked also with so many doctors... It was a mistake, but we had to examine all options... I feel disappointment and disregard for most of them. A doctor should be a human being first of all... Unfortunately most of them behaved and talked like Gods. From all these talks, I keep only one phrase... "Each patient is different, and reacts in a different way...Do not look up statistics".
Do not hesitate to leave your comment in the guestbook... Thank you all for visiting this web page...
