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Jody Frankenberger holds her daughter Willa as she smells the daffodils outside of the IU Proton Therapy Center on March 7. Before and after her appointments, Willa enjoyed smelling the flowers and playing outside.
Jody holds Willa's hands as she prepares to walk down a flight of stairs with her at the IU Proton Therapy Center. Having a brain tumor and having to endure chemotherapy and proton radiation to ultimately be healthy once again hindered and actually hurt Willa's learning process. Willa must relearn how to walk and talk now that she has undergone treatment.
Louisville residents James (Jim) Frankenberger, 47, and Jody Held, 46, walk through the Indiana University Proton Therapy Center in Bloomington, Ind. with their daughter Willa Rose Frankenberger, 19 months, after a proton treatment on March 7, 2012. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in July of 2011, Willa underwent chemotherapy treatments and then moved on to proton therapy at the IU Proton Therapy Center. Jim and Jody took Willa to therapy appointments at the center five days a week for six weeks in an attempt to ensure that the possibility of the tumor returning is highly unlikely.
The birth announcement of Willa Rose Frankenberger hangs upon the refrigerator in the home of Jim Frankenberger and Jody Held in Louisville, Ky. After being together for nearly thirty years, the couple had their first child on Aug. 10, 2010.
Jody holds Willa as she yawns before bedtime, Sleepytime Tiger in hand. Jim and Jody trade shifts sleeping with Willa each night so that someone is in the room with her at all times as she continues to recover. Taking care of Willa has become a lifestyle for Jim and Jody, but they welcome it with open arms. Getting Willa back to normal will be a process, and the family is taking it one step at a time.
Jim Frankenberger and Jody Held gather on the floor of Willa's room to read a story before bedtime, a nightly routine. Willa loves being read to and her favorite books are the ones with "beautiful illustrations" according to her mother Jody.
Willa holds a spoon with a bit of guacamole left on it during dinnertime. She is now able to digest a few solid foods such as deli turkey and blueberries and has even started to feed herself.
Ceramic coffee mugs line the windowsill of Jim and Jody's Louisville home. Two contain syringes for Willa's mic-key button (a tube that has been inserted into Willa's stomach so fluids can be inserted with ease) and the other a variety of plastic forks and spoons that are Willa-sized for eating.
Willa Rose Frankenberger sits on a mat and plays with her toys on a Sunday afternoon in April in her home in Louisville. She has lost hair on her head due to the proton therapy treatments and the removal of a brain tumor which left a scar. There is a slight possibility that Willa's hair will never grow back in the places that the proton beam entered, however her parents Jim and Jody are hoping that the treatments did not affect hair growth permanently.
Willa sits in Jody's lap and smiles as she presses keys on the piano in the living room of their home in Louisville. During her time in Bloomington, Willa did not smile very often. Now that her treatments are completed, Willa is a much happier baby.
"Find the 'D' for Dada!" Jody says to Willa as she plays with letters on the refrigerator in their home. After just a minute of searching, Willa picks up the letter 'D' and smiles, knowing that she successfully picked up the correct letter. Although her gross motor skills are still lacking, Willa is incredibly intelligent for her age.
Jody holds Sleepytime Tiger as she and Jim talk with one another outside their home in Louisville and Willa practices climbing the stairs to their back porch on April 15. Jim and Jody have been completely moved back into their home for a few weeks now that Willa is done with Proton treatments and the family could not be happier.
Radiation Oncologist Jeffrey Buchsbaum holds Willa and talks to her as she rests her forehead on his, still sleepy from the anesthesia the she gets before each of her treatments.
Jim Frankenberger rings a celebratory bell in the hallway of the IU Proton Therapy Center as his wife Jody Held cheers and Willa gazes on March 21. It is tradition in the therapy center that patients and their families get to ring the bell after their final treatment has been given.
Registered nurse Natalie Clark and Jim and Jody wait for Willa to wake up after her last proton treatment. The therapy center and the family put together a small get together for Willa to celebrate the completion of her treatments and her time in Bloomington.
Radiation therapists Kaitlin Kuhn and Andrew Beaver prepare the room housing one of the IU Proton Therapy Center's proton beams for a patient. Proton therapy is a very precise way to rid the body of cancer cells and is a form of external beam radiation treatment.
Jody smiles at Willa as they ride in their station wagon with Jim on their way to Willa's final proton treatment. Jody always sits in the backseat with Willa when the family rides in the car. Willa has digestive problems, so Jody sits with her in order to keep the closest eye possible on her in case she gets sick.
Jim kisses Willa on the back of her head after she walked up the staircase with his help at the Monroe County Public Library, one of the family's favorite places to go. Whenever Willa sees stairs, she wants to climb them and Jody and Jim willingly help every time because it will get her walking on her own more quickly.
Jim Frankenberger reaches to lift Willa Frankenberger out of her highchair after feeding her dinner for the past hour on an evening in March. Feeding Willa is a delicate and careful process that involves putting all of the food that she eats into a blender before feeding it to her. The brain tumor that Willa had affected her nervous system, making it incredibly hard for Willa to chew, swallow and keep solid food down.
Willa sits on the floor of her family's temporary apartment in downtown Bloomington and watches TV with her favorite stuffed animal, Sleepytime Tiger. Since Willa gets treatments five days a week, the family lives in Bloomington during the week and goes back home to their Louisville home for the weekends.
