LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana community is raising donations for an 11-year-old girl who was recently diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Ellie's Schafer's life changed on Dec. 10, 2022 when she was taken to the emergency room after a series of headaches, nausea and disorientation. She was then taken to Norton Children's Hospital in Louisville after a mass on her brain was found.

"December 10th our life got ripped out from underneath us, she was disoriented, pupils were enlarged," her mother, Brooke Schafer, said.  

Ellie Schafer

Ellie Schafer, 11, was recently diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. (Submitted photo)

Surgeons removed the tumor in her brain, which was biopsied. Her family had to wait a month for a diagnosis of astrocytoma, which is a tumor that forms in the brain as a result of abnormal growth of glial cells. Those cells help send messages from the brain to the rest of the body.

"I am just fighting right now and being very calm and patient," Ellie Schafer said on Facetime from her hospital bed.

Ellie has undergone multiple surgeries and hospital stays in the past month. She was readmitted to the children's hospital in downtown Louisville on Feb. 9.

"She's trying to negative being off work, I mean she's the breadwinner for her household. She is a single parent and being as close as I am to Ellie, I just knew I had to do something to help the stress off Brooke," Amber White, a family friend, said.

A daughter of a single mother whose FMLA pay is about to run out, Ellie's future depends on the ability to pay for medical treatment. 

"You know, FMLA, my work has been fantastic but at some point, those paychecks run out. So any financial support, no matter how big or how small is going toward Ellie's future care," Schafer said. 

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here. 

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