200-car parade welcomes Schaumburg girl home after third brain surgery

Abigail Wyton waved at so many cars parading past her Schaumburg home in her honor Thursday, she had to use her partially paralyzed right arm to hold up her left so she wouldn't miss any.

The 5-year-old arrived home a few hours earlier following 73 days in a Chicago hospital fighting the side effects of a third brain surgery.

"She's our little princess warrior," says her dad, Philip Wyton. "She's tough. She deals with a lot."

At 11 months old, she endured her first surgery for a tumor on the base of her brain. The cancer, called ependymoma, is more common in children than adults, and outcomes are not always positive. Abigail has partial paralysis on her right side, including her vocal cords, her arm and the nerves in her right ear, making her deaf on that side. Her second surgery came only a year after the first.

Her father said she was so excited to come home, she got up early and packed all her stuff hours before she was released.

"Everybody who knows her says she is 5 years old going on 25 years old," Philip said. "She couldn't care less about what she's going through. She's worried about us."

Donations to the family for ongoing medical expenses can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/abigail-the-warrior?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet