Celebrating Zailin, prayers for a miracle

AJ and Libby Linke and their two children - Zailin, 3 and Allie, 5. / Pilot-Tribune photo by Jennifer Nelson. [Click to enlarge]

Zailin Linke, Alta, celebrated his third birthday surrounded by friends and family Saturday, running around as energetically as any 3-year-old might. Yet is was a day some didn't expect him to see. He likes playing with toy swords, pretending he's a knight and fighting off the bad guys. He also enjoys playing video games.

Linke was diagnosed with pontine glioma, a cancerous inoperable brainstem tumor, last year. The condition is more common in older children; doctors have fewer statistics on younger children but are saying his condition is probably terminal and gave him a prognosis of 12 to 18 months to live at his diagnosis.

This May will be the 12 month mark. However, making it to his third birthday was a milestone, the family says. "We're just trying to enjoy what we can, celebrate what we can," Zailin's mother Libby says. "It's definitely been a real rollercoaster."

Zailin is slowly being weaned off his steroid pain medications. Libby says doctors tell them the drugs are no longer doing any good and if he remains on them he could face adverse affects like liver damage. Zailin received chemo treatments, however, they made him feel really sick. "There's nothing for treatment options right now," she says.

Read more of this story in the March 9 Pilot Tribune.