TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – East Texas emergency responders responded to help a member who learned his daughter needed surgery for a brain tumor.
Michael McNabb is a member of Smith County Emergency Services District 2. He and his wife Kayla have been together for three years and have a happy life with their daughter Paisley.
“She’s a happy girl, smart, pretty, always listens to her teachers, just an overall great kid. She’s just great. She’s a great friend to everyone,” said Kayla McNabb.
At the end of June, Michael and Kayla noticed that something was wrong with their otherwise cheerful daughter.
“She started getting headaches and it got to the point where she would wake up in the middle of the night crying,” Kayla McNabb explained.
“One night we were awake all night, she was screaming and crying and throwing up, and I thought this can’t be right,” said Michael McNabb.
After arriving at the hospital and conducting tests, the doctors discovered that it was a pilocytic astrocytoma, a slow-growing brain tumor. This news shocked the family.
“It was hard to deal with. I mean, when you work in the medical field, you think you know a lot and then you’re faced with something new and it drives you crazy. We didn’t really have much time to do anything. We were taken to Children’s Hospital and found out 48 hours later that we needed surgery,” said Michael McNabb.
Other employees of the Smith County Emergency Services District also helped out and organized the softball tournament as a fundraiser. A large portion of the proceeds will go toward the McNabb family’s hospital bills.
Paisley is on the road to recovery and the event organizers have never hesitated to help one of their “brothers.”
“We told them from the beginning, ‘We’re here to support you. We’re going to do something, we don’t know what yet.’ And then it took on a life of its own and got off the ground. It’s been incredible to see how it all unfolded. We’re brothers and sisters. We take care of our own and provide for our own, and it’s our job to take care of our brothers and sisters,” said Troy Pritchard, spokesman for the 5300 McNabb Benefit.
Organizations from as far away as Dallas and Garland were present to show their presence and support the cause.
If you would like to help the McNabb family with a donation, please email [email protected].
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