Joey is our happy-go-lucky little boy while stubborn like no other! It's this tenacity that makes him a true warrior. He loves cars, trucks, sea animals, Legos, Pokemon, Skylanders, Minecraft, Yo-Kai Watch, baseball and soccer. 

The summer before starting Kindergarten, Joey began to demonstrate some odd symptoms. On August 26, 2021 Joey wobbly entered his Kindergarten classroom. Within 2 hours, we received a phone call that Joey "got sick" twice and to please come pick him up. I wish that we were the embarrassed parents who sent their kid to school sick instead of what the next 15+ months would become.

After a call to the pediatrician, we were referred to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh ED. We crossed our fingers Joey could lay still for a rapid MRI because if he couldn't, we'd have to stay overnight for a sedated MRI in the morning. Little did we know, this would be night 1 of 76 Joey slept away from home. "We found a 5cm tumor in Joey's 4th ventricle." Joey was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma brain cancer.

Did we mention Joey is stubborn and tenacious? He fought to relearn how to talk and swallow. Joey wired tirelessly to regain the use of his left arm and the ability to walk all while undergoing 6 weeks of Proton Radiation (away from home in Cincinnati) and 4 Cycles of intense Chemotherapy. 

Shortly before Joey's End of Treatment scans, Joey lost use of the right side of his body from shoulder to fingers and hip to toes due to Radiation Necrosis. When we should have been celebrating the end of this nightmare, we were planning next steps to heal the damage created by the treatments that are meant to destroy the cancer.

Joey continues to remain cancer free (!!!), restarted Kindergarten August 2022, and continues to slowly regain the use of his right arm and leg with the help of his OT and PT teams. This tenacity makes Joey a true warrior. 

We firmly believe we can do better for kids battling these brain tumors. We will find better treatments with less traumatic side effects. Even better, we will find a cure.

"We chose to become Ambassadors for The Cure Starts Now because these kids deserve better and need a bigger voice behind them. Watching Joey soldier through the worst of the worst with nothing but smiles and hugs is inspiring. As inspiring as Joey is, pediatric cancer needs better treatment options and more awareness. After witnessing how harmful the treatments are, we feel called to step up and do more." - The Mihailoff Family 💙💜💛

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

The family receives notification of all donations made to this tribute fund automatically.