New York Mom's Worst Fears Confirmed as Rare Brain Tumor Found in Her Baby's Large Head

Melissa Moro Luca NYU Langone Hospita choroid plexus papilloma baby with big head

By Joel Brussels , Parent Herald May 14, 07:06 pm

Photo: (Photo : Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Melissa Moro had a feeling something was wrong with his son Luca Zayas a few days after he was born. The new mom struggled to get newborn clothes on baby Luca when he was just two weeks old because his head was so big.

Moro relayed her concerns to the pediatrician, who dismissed it as those of a first-time mother. The problem did not go away, though, as it became even worse a couple of weeks later. Luca's head was so large at that point, Moro could not pull toddler clothes over it.

Moro told Today Parents that she kept telling her husband way before they went to the pediatrician that she thinks his head is bigger than normal children. The 37-year-old New York native said she is a nanny and she has seen a lot of children from birth to rising ages. Moro said something just felt off with her son Luca.

Melissa Moro's worst fears confirmed after son's seizures

Moro would always mention Luca's head size at doctor's appointments, but the doctor kept telling the first-time mom that she was just overly worried and that Luca was fine. something terrifying happened, however, after he received shots at the age of two and a half months.

Baby Luca could not keep his eyes open after the shots. They then rolled downward and started shaking back and forth, much to the horror of Moro. She soon learned the reason why that happened and it confirmed her worst fears. Test results showed her son Luca had a golf ball sized brain tumor which caused his head to swell.

Moro said Luca ended up having a seizure in her husband's arms. Luca then ended up having another seizure two hours later and the couple decided that they have got to take him in to the hospital.

The couple went to the local hospital where a CT scan was performed on baby Luca. The scan revealed that the toddler had a mass on his choroid plexus in his brain. Doctors immediately transferred Luca to NYU Langone Hospital for surgery. According to Moro, doctors told them that Luca needed immediate surgery. They heeded the doctors' advice with Luca going into surgery for almost five hours the following day.

It was a delicate surgery to say the least with doctors removing the golf-ball sized choroid plexus papilloma. According to Cedars-Senai, it is a rare type of brain tumor that is generally benign and slow-growing.

Luca survives brain surgery

Moro explained that Luca's brain tumor is not cancerous but the one that affected him was stage 2, which means it has a higher chance of returning. Doctors were able to remove all of the tumor in Luca's brain, but his recovery initially did not go well.

Moro said Luca ended up having a seizure for almost 45 minutes that required her baby to go back into surgery. Doctors could not figure out why he was having seizures. They eventually found out Luca was having seizures because he ended up having a bleed.

According to Cureus, choroid plexus papilloma is one of the rare intraventricular tumors, accounting for 0.4 to 1 percent of brain tumors in adults and 1.5 to 6 percent in the pediatric population. Luca, who is now 23 months old, is doing well. According to Moro, he loves saying words, running, drawing with chalk and crayons, and throwing balls.