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Police officer's son undergoes delicate surgery to remove brain tumor
Five-year-old Ezra King goes in for surgery where doctor's will work to remove a brain tumor. His parents say it’ll be tough and terrifying, but that their son is brave.
WOODSTOCK, Ga. - The young son of a Woodstock Police officer has a big day ahead of him. Five-year-old Ezra King goes in for surgery on Wednesday. Doctors will try to remove a brain tumor at Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital. His parents say it’ll be tough and terrifying, but that their son is brave.
"We know all the possibilities, all the risks and it’s quite daunting and scary for us," said Ezra’s mom Ramona King. "You’re just so worried and you’re so restless and you feel completely helpless."
Ezra will undergo surgery to remove a brain tumor just behind his left eye.
"He’s gotten some eye pain and some pressure. He’s still significantly visually impaired," his mom said.
Ramona says doctors diagnosed Ezra with brain cancer at the age of just 18-months.
"It felt like the walls were caving in on us. It was just absolutely terrifying," Ramona said.
His parents had no idea if he’d survive.
"We didn’t even know what the future would hold if he would make it through the next day," she said.
Recovering from his first operation was tough. "
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He woke up with significant vision loss to the right side function of his body and then no speech or swallowing. He had to relearn how to walk. He had to relearn how to swallow and talk and all those things," Ezra’s mom said.
Ezra has endured chemotherapy ever since then.
"For four-and-a-half years, nerve pain. You have hair loss, loss of sleeping, nose bleeds, skin rashes," she said.
Ezra’s dad, Travis, is an officer with the Woodstock Police Department. The department last week honored Ezra as a junior officer.
(Photo credit: Woodstock Police Department)
"It meant the world to me. It meant the world to him also," Travis said. "I can now call him my brother in blue, not only my son."
And now Ezra faces the biggest challenge of his young life.
"He’s taking it with so much grace and so much strength," Travis said. "He’s the bravest. He truly is the definition of brave. He’s truly showed me the definition of strength and perseverance."
"We’re just going to focus on taking the next breath and getting through the end of surgery," Ramona said.
Ezra will likely be in the hospital on his 6th birthday, Sept. 13. His parents hope for a long life for their son. Ezra wants to be a doctor or a police officer like his dad when he grows up.