It’s news no parent wants to hear: Your child only has a few months times left. That’s a reality one Livingston Parish family is now facing after they packed up all their belongings and recently moved to Ohio for their daughter’s brain cancer diagnosis.
Austin & Breann Tanton were awaiting results of an MRI for their 11-year-old daughter Katie Tanton. She was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DIPG in January 2026. It’s a rare and aggressive terminal brain cancer that primarily affects children. The results of that MRI on her brain proved to be the worst news.
“Her tumor has spread to new areas of her brain and her tumor has progressed,” Katie’s mom Breann Tanton told UWK on Thursday. “The trial drugs were not effective, so she will not be continuing the TarGeT-A Clinical Trial.”
That trial was the entire reason the Tantons dropped everything and moved to Ohio, even living in a tent after running out of money for a hotel. But that’s when the community stepped up, not only to put them in a hotel, but the Tantons also came across a man while shopping who helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to give the family. That was mid August 2026. Living in Ohio meant truly giving Katie a fighting chance after she was admitted into the TarGeT-A Clinical trial.
But on August 27, the MRI revealed the trial was not helping Katie.
“The tumor is now in her left and right ventricles and behind her eyes, as well as the area of her cerebellum where it is has also grown significantly. The part of the tumor in the pons that was radiated at St. Jude is still stable. Her symptoms are pretty bad and she is just miserable,” Breann said, careful not to speak aloud in front of her daughter. “The white areas from the top left of the picture and diagonal to the bottom of right of the pic is the tumor (picture above).”
Katie Tanton is only 11 years old. She was 10 when she was diagnosed.
“We’ve been doing non-stop testing and imaging since yesterday (Aug. 26th) when I brought her into the ER. She’s pretty wiped out,” her mom said. “The tentative plan is to re-irradiate and focus on the new areas of the disease to help control her neurological symptoms for some time.”
Now, with the latest turn of events, Katie has made it clear to her parents that she does not want to be updated on her medical diagnoses anymore and simply wants to live the remainder of her life.
“Katie has decided that she does not want the doctors or us to discuss any more of what is going on with her than is necessary. Her words were, ‘I don’t want to know if I’m going to die, I just want to live my life and have fun’,” Breanna told UWK.
Her parents are doing their best to be as strong as they can be for their daughter, but it’s a daunting task.
“It’s been rough and very emotional, but it’s in God’s hands and only He truly knows when He’s going to take her. All we can do is pray and keep hope alive for a miracle,” her mom said. “Unfortunately, she might only be with us for a few more months.”
“She wants to go to Universal, Harry Potter World”
It’s now a race against time to get Katie and as much of her family as possible to Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida before September. It’s something Katie has always wanted to do, her mother said.
“We’re trying to get the planning of her Disney/Universal trip underway so it can happen ASAP, before end of September hopefully.”
The problem is, Breann Tanton is learning that it is a lot to plan out given Katie’s current medical diagnosis, along with the amount of family wanting to go. It’s why she says they really need the help of a travel agent.
“A large portion of the family has said they’d love to go with her and make memories so if we include them, it’s like 22 people. If we don’t include uncles/aunts/cousins, it would be 9 of us so the grandparents can help with the little ones. We are hoping to go for like at least three to four days since there’s so much to do and see and Katie’s days will probably be short because she gets tired,” Breann explained.
The family did receive money for housing and were able to successfully get settled, but they said any help covering the cost of this trip would greatly be appreciated.
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