Surgeon to help girl from Lake Villa

Taylor Granitz recalls an active life, dancing, playing softball and soccer and competing in gymnastics.

"I miss sports. I miss being a normal kid," said the 15-year-old girl.

Taylor was diagnosed in March 2006 with a rare cystic brain disease that limits use of the right side of her body and has led her mom Tami to find a way to treat her.

"I am her mom. I need to fix things. When you sit on your hands and can't fix things, it is so frustrating to not be able to help," she said.

But as the holidays approach, the Lake Villa teen finds hope as they travel to Arizona to undergo surgery on Friday.

The surgery will be done by the same doctor that recently treated 7-year-old Taylor Radtke of Johnsburg. The girl had a rare brain tumor removed in October by neurosurgeon Robert Spetzler, director of St. Joseph's Barrow Neurological Institute, in Phoenix. She is back home now recovering.

"We can't wait for it to get here. I can't wait for it to be over," Doyle said.

It was three years ago Taylor Granitz told her mom about a ringing in her ear that doctors first diagnosed as minimal hearing loss due to previous ear infections.

Six months later, Taylor worried about uncontrolled shaking. An MRI first detected the massive brain tumor, and Taylor was rushed to Children's Memorial Hospital in Milwaukee.

Doctors detected not a solid mass but a rare multioculated cystic mass that sits on her brain stem.

"They never saw anything like this before," Doyle said.

Taylor experiences tremors in her right leg and hand, which she said led her to start using her left hand to do everything. While her doctors were unsure how to address the mass, they tried to address the symptoms.

A shunt was placed in March 2006 to relieve pressure on her brain. But the shunt that was placed was contaminated, which took a year to discover. Taylor was airlifted to undergo emergency surgery as well as two more surgeries between April and May.

She now receives help as she attends Grayslake North High School. She is given extra time to move to class and has someone take notes.

Taylor undergoes physical and occupational therapies and must wear glasses as the mass has displaced her left optical nerve track and does not allow her left eye to refract light.

Taylor struggles to fit in even among her sisters, Doyle said. Her 17-year-old sister Tiffanie has a school jacket filled with sports. Taylor also has been held back from getting her driver's permit with her friends due to the tremors.

"It's hard for her not to be able to do those things or not be able to try," she said.

But Taylor's struggles have made an impact on Tiffanie, who wants to enter the medical field. She now is part of the certified nursing assistant program at the Lake County Technology Campus.

"I never expected her to pick nursing," Doyle said. "I think she finds that only from seeing her sister and what she's going through."

Regardless of all she has encountered, Taylor has kept a smile on her face.

In her holiday letter, Tami said, "She has had a tough year with her illness but she still smiles every day and does the best she can."

In October, Doyle, a dental hygienist, said a patient brought her a story about Taylor Radtke.

Doyle came home and that day wrote to neurosurgeon Robert Spetzler asking if he could help treat her daughter.

The next day, she heard from Spetzler, asking to see Taylor's MRI and CAT scans. Soon after getting the results, she received another call. The doctors wanted to schedule surgery.

"My first response was 'Thank God someone will finally help me help her,'" she said.

"Then, I got scared," she said. "You worry if you're doing the right thing. There are consequences when you get help."

The next morning, she told Taylor the news.

"She said, 'this is the best day of my life. I am so glad someone will finally help me,'" Doyle said.

The family will split up as Taylor travels to Arizona for the surgery along with mom and Riley, as Tiffanie stays home with her father. While in Arizona, Tami will receive support from her parents, who live in Surprise, Arizona.

Also offering support will be Laurie Radtke, Taylor's mother. Laurie recalled the first time she talked to Doyle.

"I heard the desperation in her voice. I must have sounded like that," she said.

Laurie said their first priority has been to care for Taylor. But for husband Jeff and herself, they now want to help other families by providing information and support based on their own personal experiences.

"If I can offer what I was feeling and what helped me, it will help her a tremendous amount," she said.

Doyle said the best gift she gave her daughter was allowing her the honor of meeting her Taylor. Laurie called them soul sisters.

"We vowed to have a celebration after my Taylor returns home from surgery," Doyle said.

Doyle said it also was such a relief to talk to someone who understood what she is going through.

"Laurie helped me find some calm before the storm," she said.

Doctors hope to go through the back of her head to decompress the cystic mass and save her vision. Taylor remains optimistic.

"I can start using my right hand again if he fixes my tremors," she said.

December already has been a busy month in their home. Tiffanie celebrates her 18th birthday on Dec. 18. Tami's birthday is the 19th and her wedding anniversary was New Year's Eve.

"I'm taking it as a sign it's a Christmas miracle," she said. "It will be one more thing we can celebrate in December."