Amber’s Baby Boy Was Born in April, and by July an MRI Had Found Brain Tumors. Now the Idaho Family Travels to Utah for His Chemo.

By July, the baby boy born to Amber and her husband in April was no longer just a new arrival in Ammon, Idaho. He was a patient on his way to Salt Lake City, where an MRI would show brain tumors. Now, about seven months old, he is at home with visiting nurses, and his parents are making the drive to Utah for chemotherapy, East Idaho News reported on Nov. 12.

The tumors are a type called pilomyxoid astrocytoma. The same report says an anonymous Secret Santa, who is giving away $1 million in eastern Idaho this Christmas season, asked the news team to surprise the family.

A New Baby in April, Then Fluid on the Brain in July

According to East Idaho News, the couple’s son was born in April 2026. The article does not name him or give the parents’ ages, and it identifies the mother by her first name, Amber.

The first sign of trouble came in July, when fluid was found in the baby’s brain. The report says he was then flown to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, the Intermountain Health children’s hospital that describes itself as offering comprehensive specialty care for children and sits at 100 North Mario Capecchi Drive in the Utah capital.

Fluid in the brain is a finding doctors take seriously. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke explains that a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid deep in the brain is called hydrocephalus, that it widens the brain’s ventricles and puts pressure on brain tissue, and that brain tumors are one of the things that can raise the risk at any age. NINDS lists a rapidly growing or unusually large head, vomiting, feeding problems, sleepiness and irritability among the signs of the condition in babies, and says treatment is most often surgery to drain or redirect the fluid. The news report does not say how the baby’s doctors described the fluid, only that it was found and that the trip to Utah followed.

The MRI That Named the Tumors

At Primary Children’s, an MRI found tumors in the baby’s brain. The diagnosis, East Idaho News reported, is pilomyxoid astrocytoma.

A 2021 case report in the journal Case Reports in Pediatrics describes pilomyxoid astrocytoma as a tumor that mainly affects infants and young children, generally between 3 months and 2 years old. It is closely related to pilocytic astrocytoma, one of the most common brain tumors in children, and it can arise anywhere in the central nervous system, though it most often appears near the center of the brain, around the hypothalamus.

The authors of that paper also write that there is no consensus standard treatment for the tumor type. They say surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible is preferred when it is feasible, and that chemotherapy is used in patients of any age, while radiation is generally limited to children older than about 3 to 5 years. The Idaho report does not describe the details of the baby’s treatment plan beyond the chemotherapy, and it would not be right to guess at them.

The National Brain Tumor Society’s brain tumor facts page puts the wider picture in numbers: brain tumors are the most common cancer in people ages 0 to 19, with an estimated 4,975 new cases expected in 2026, and pilocytic astrocytoma accounts for about 16.3% of tumors in that age group.

Home in Ammon, With Oxygen, a Feeding Tube and Visiting Nurses

These days the baby is at home. East Idaho News reports that he uses oxygen and a feeding tube, and that nurses come to the house twice a week.

The care does not stop at the front door. The family still travels from Ammon to Utah for his chemotherapy, crossing the state line each time.

The article’s narration describes Amber and her husband as “so positive and resilient throughout this whole thing,” a line that is the writer’s own description rather than a quote from the parents.

A Secret Santa Knocks on the Door

The surprise at the center of the story comes from East Idaho News’s annual Secret Santa project. According to the program’s 2026 announcement, an anonymous donor is giving away $1 million in cash, cars, gift cards and other surprises this season, in the 12th year of the program with the news site.

Community members nominate people who deserve some holiday help, and the news team then surprises the people who are chosen, recording most of the reactions to share online. Recipients must live in eastern Idaho, nobody can nominate themselves, and nominations must be in by Dec. 15.

For Amber, the Secret Santa asked East Idaho News staff to pay her a visit. The story includes a video of the surprise. The text of the article does not say how much the family received, so that figure is not included here.

The program’s rules ask nominators to explain a nominee’s needs and give at least two references who are not the nominee or the nominator, and the site says calls or emails to the newsroom do not improve anyone’s chances. The surprises run until Christmas.

What the report does make clear is where the family stands this month: a baby born in April, a diagnosis made in July, and a household that is now balancing home nursing, oxygen, a feeding tube and regular trips to Salt Lake City, with a community stepping in to help.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Mx. Granger – CC0/Wikimedia Commons