Vernon Roxas
Vernon Roxas was born on January 25, 2019 to his dad Venus and mom Jacqueline. From a very early age, his parents noticed he was so smart and knew the names of all the planets and phonics by three years old. He is an excellent reader, likes to color, and being outside riding his bike and playing with his electric car. In 2023, Vernon became a big brother to Javen and was so happy to have a built in best friend to play with at home. Vernon is a collector and knows the names and types of all kind of cars and airplanes. He has such a friendly personality, loves music and is an energetic and happy little boy.
Vernon loves spending time with his family and some of their favorite things to do are go out to eat at his favorite places, Olive Garden and McDonalds and go to church.
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Diagnosis
Leading up to Vernon's diagnosis, the first troubling symptoms his parents noticed were some drooling, eye deviations and weakness on one side of his body. After taking him for medical attention, they were referred to Lurie Children's in Chicago for more extensive testing. An MRI of his brain on October 3, 2024 showed them devastating news. Like so many other DIPG families, before Vernon was diagnosed they had never heard of this type of brain cancer before and struggled to fully process the severity of his prognosis.
However, his parents leaned on their support systems, their community and their medical teams and jumped into radiation treatment with Vernon. He has endured so much in the months since he was first hospitalized but his sweet spirit and quiet courage has never wavered. The Roxas family looks for moments of joy each day and is thankful they have been able to make some incredible memories together, like Vernon's Make-a-Wish trip to Walt Disney World.
Vernon's parents have chosen to share his story today because they want other families like their own to realize they are not alone in this journey. They share that they have learned so much since diagnosis day in 2024, not just medically, but also spiritually and have seen every obstacle as an opportunity to draw closer to God as a family.
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