Rockledge community supports 7-year-old fighting rare brain cancer

A lemonade stand for a cause. The Rockledge community showed its support for 7-year-old Vivian, who is fighting DIPG.

DIPG, or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, is a rare, fast-growing tumor that is aggressive and difficult to treat. The tumor forms in cells which can spread to nearby tissues and other parts of the brain. It has poor outcomes and usually happens in children.

Vivian was diagnosed in June. Her parents noticed she was having some vision problems, they took her to the eye doctor thinking she needed new glasses but instead got a diagnosis.

"When we saw the look in the eye doctor’s eye when he was telling us, he knew that it was something different, and possibly something major," Mark Huetter, Vivian’s stepdad said.

Vivian just finished eight weeks of daily radiation, next is four weeks of rest to see if the radiation shrunk any of cancer.

"When you see her now, and you look at her, everything is normal. She’s active Viv," Huetter said. "Her Mom says it all the time, I feel like I’m in a dream because you see her, and she’s active, and to think six to nine months later what it’s going to be like, it’s devastating."

Rockledge Fire Department, Rockledge Police Department, and Brevard County Sheriff's Deputies, including the Sheriff all, stopped by the lemonade stand on Saturday.

"Her family is obviously behind her, this community is behind her, and we just want her to know we love her," Sheriff Ivey said.

Vivian told Sheriff Ivey that she wanted to be a police officer when she grows up.

The family's neighbor, John Keller told FOX 35, that Vivian is a remarkable young girl. "She’s always saying you have to help everybody, even the bad people. God said that you have to do that, and she lives that day in and day out," Keller said. 

For more on Vivian’s story, you can click here.