Jude the Dude Has a Cancer-Fighting Attitude

Jude Marzen is a shy, sweet and caring kid who loves Star Wars, Pokémon, Minecraft and, most importantly, his family. But at 6 years old, he proved that underneath his shy and sweet nature, he’s as strong as they come.

It started in August 2022 when he was arriving home from his cross-country practice abnormally exhausted. As the practices continued, the exhaustion worsened, escalating to a point where he was unable to keep his eyes open, immediately crawling into bed or onto the couch and sleeping for hours. His parents' concern escalated as Jude's symptoms worsened to include vomiting and a bad headache that wouldn't go away.

Determined to find answers, Jude’s parents, Maria and Paul Marzen, took Jude to the Children’s ER at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital. There, the care team performed a neurological exam, which involved Jude touching his nose and walking in a straight line – neither of which he could successfully do. This prompted a computed tomography (CT) scan, which revealed Jude had a golf-ball sized tumor in the back of his brain.

The discovery of the tumor wasn’t the only surprise in store for the Marzens. Thanks to the recent (at the time) arrival of pediatric neurosurgeon David Hong, MD, to Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital, the Marzens didn’t have to travel to find the pediatric expertise Jude needed to take the first step in his journey.

“Within a half hour, we were on the phone with Dr. Hong, who made us feel fully confident in him and gave us confidence that Jude could receive the care he really needed here at home,” Paul says. With six other children at home, being able to stay close to home for Jude’s care was huge.

On Friday, Sept. 9, 2022 – the same night the tumor was discovered – Jude was moved to Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) where Dr. Hong put a drain in Jude’s brain to alleviate the pressure that was building up in his brain. The PICU team then prepared Jude for surgery, which was set for Monday, three days later.

“We went from one moment thinking our child was suffering from migraines or something simple to 72 hours later, our son is being wheeled into brain surgery – and we were just in disbelief,” Paul says. “But I think we really surrendered it. We had peace knowing that he couldn't have received better help anywhere, and as people of faith, we knew that God had Jude in his hands. But that was the hardest seven or so hours of our life – just waiting.”

After almost seven hours of surgery, Dr. Hong returned with good news and bad. The good news: He was able to remove the entire tumor and the tumor luckily hadn’t spread to his spine yet. The bad news: It was confirmed that Jude had a malignant brain tumor called medulloblastoma, which was an aggressive central nervous system cancer. This aggressive type of cancer would require an aggressive treatment plan.

“It was such a happy and devastating moment,” Maria says. “On one hand, I felt so grateful that we put our trust in Dr. Hong and he was able to remove the entire tumor. But on the other, as a mom, you’re holding onto that tiny thread of hope that maybe, just maybe, it’s not cancer. Hearing it was – the world just stopped.”

The Marzens met with pediatric oncologist Jacob Troutman, DO, with LVPG Pediatric Hematology Oncology, and the pediatric cancer team at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital. “When they sat us down in the consult room, they said something I’ll never forget,” Paul says. “They said, ‘When we talk about the “C” word, that “C” word is cure. My goal is going to be to cure your son.’ They told us, ‘We’re going to be the family you never wanted because no one wants to be a family with the oncology team, but we are going to help you through this.’”

The next step after surgery was to get Jude and his body ready for further treatment. This involved having a feeding tube and port for cancer treatment placed in him as well as giving his brain some time to rest.

Two weeks after surgery, Jude was ready for the next step of his treatment – radiation proton therapy with chemotherapy delivered at the same time. Proton therapy is a special form of radiotherapy that is only available at a few centers worldwide. However, Dr. Troutman had access to the specialized treatment Jude needed thanks to Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN)’s relationship with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

“The reason we chose proton radiation therapy over traditional radiation therapy is it minimizes what we call ‘side scatter’ and helps protect normal tissue from radiation exposure,” Dr. Troutman says. “That’s because, unlike with conventional radiotherapy, the proton therapy beam stops within the body, which allows us to treat cancer with greater precision. This allows us to reduce the dose of radiation received to key parts of the brain associated with learning and memory. The treatment also helps minimize radiation exposure to other organs in the body, reducing the risk for long-term side effects and maximizing Jude’s potential for long-term quality of life.”

In October 2022, Jude received his first proton therapy treatment through CHOP’s collaboration with Penn Medicine, while simultaneously receiving chemotherapy.

“Medulloblastoma requires three things for successful treatment: surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, where radiotherapy is delivered to the entire brain and spine, with an additional focused dose to the site where the tumor was removed,” says Michael LaRiviere, MD, attending physician with the Pediatric Proton Therapy Center at CHOP. “Unlike chemotherapy, which is delivered by infusion and travels throughout the body, radiotherapy is targeted directly to the sites that require treatment with precision on the order of 3 millimeters. The purpose of radiotherapy is to eliminate any remaining tumor cells that might be present anywhere in the brain or spine, and along with surgery and chemotherapy, to maximize the chance for cure.”

On Dec. 1, 2022, Jude finished his six-week course of 30 total treatments and he got to ring the finality bell, which is rung three times on the last day of cancer treatment – once for love, once for hope and once for courage.

As Jude finished a major step in his recovery, a new journey began for the Marzens with the discovery that Maria was pregnant and the Marzens were expecting their eighth child. They also received more good news, regarding the molecular testing CHOP performed on Jude’s tumor.

“In general, medulloblastoma is an aggressive type of brain cancer, but there are different subtypes,” Dr. Troutman says. “Some types have 50 percent recurrence, some have 75 percent chance of recurrence, and then there is one subtype that has a 10 percent chance of recurrence. The molecular testing revealed that Jude’s type had the 10 percent chance of recurrence.”

“Hearing that news gave us the hope we needed that Jude’s chance of beating this cancer is really good – it was a great bump that we needed going into the next step in his journey,” Maria says.

Jude had no active cancer after his treatment at CHOP, however, his fight was not over. In January 2023, Jude returned to the Children’s Cancer and Multipurpose Infusion Center at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital to receive maintenance chemotherapy, which involved nine cycles of systemic chemotherapies. The treatment involved Jude spending two to three days in the hospital every four to six weeks.

In addition to receiving maintenance chemo, Jude also was going to physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy at LVHN to address the side effects the tumor had on his body and speech.

Expecting a new family member turned out to be the biggest blessing and a beautiful diversion during this time for Jude and the entire family. Instead of Jude always being the only one to go to the hospital for treatments, Maria was going too for checkups and appointments. Then, in August 2023, when Jude was two-thirds of the way through his treatment, his brother Luke was born.

Jude finished chemo in December 2023. A week before Christmas, an MRI confirmed no cancer was present.

Now 8 years old, Jude is still in remission.

“He is not considered cured until five years after his last chemotherapy,” Dr. Troutman says. “We see him regularly in clinic with labs and we continue to follow him with imaging at certain time frames. He receives scans more frequently in the early days of his remission, but the scans are spread further apart as he gets further away from his diagnosis.”

Jude has a full head of hair now, which is “the softest head of hair ever,” and he has all of his energy back. He also just began school as a second grader. Because Jude was diagnosed with cancer one week into kindergarten, this is his first real all-day school experience, and he’s loving it so far.

“When you pull up to a hospital with your child in your backseat – it’s scary – I don’t like the smell, the look or anything about it,” Maria says. “It’s funny as we were pulling up the last six months to a year, I was thinking I like this place. It’s not scary anymore. It’s where I got to deliver six of my babies and it’s where Jude was cured from cancer. It’s a place of comfort and healing.”

“Jude went from barely walking down our driveway in a walker to now being strong enough to run around outside and ride scooters and just be a normal kid,” Paul says. “It’s just so incredible to see, and we are so grateful for the team at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital and CHOP for saving our son’s life.”

“Jude is so brave and has such a wonderful, supportive family, that it has been my team’s privilege to treat him and get to know his family,” Dr. LaRiviere says. “We are thrilled with how well he is doing and hope he can just enjoy being a kid.”

“Jude is an amazing little guy – he’s fighting,” Dr. Troutman says. “The Marzens are an amazing family. I hate that Jude had to go through this, but I love that I got to meet him and will be there with him through his journey.”