Newswise — Filip Stevic is a “happy, goofy kid” who loves trucks, dinosaurs and books, according to his parents, Sunny and Milos, who live in Nottingham, Maryland. But the family’s holiday season was nearly upended when a golf ball-sized tumor was discovered inside Filip’s head.
Just before his third birthday, in September 2024, Filip started gagging on mucus every morning after waking up. “He would feel bad, then take a nap, and would feel fine for the rest of the day,” Sunny Stevic says. He soon developed difficulty in balancing, complained of worsening headaches and his eyes began crossing. After trips to different doctors and an urgent care facility, the family ended up in the emergency department at a local hospital, where a CT scan identified a large tumor inside his brain.
An ambulance rushed Filip to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for further treatment. There, he and his family met Alan Cohen, M.D., director of pediatric neurosurgery, and a team of specialists at the Pediatric Brain Tumor Center. An MRI confirmed that the tumor, which Cohen called “giant” and was about 6 centimeters in diameter, was located in the cerebellum at the base of his brain, and was causing hydrocephalus, a backup of fluid on the brain. The tumor, along with the hydrocephalus, in turn, was leading to compression on Filip’s brain and brainstem and was creating severe increased pressure in Filip’s brain.
