POCATELLO — Easter was supposed to be a morning of baskets and chocolate and the kind of sugar-fueled chaos that trails a 2-year-old through a family holiday weekend. For Brianna and Bailey Brewster, it became the weekend their lives turned upside down.

In the days leading up to Easter, their youngest of two daughters, Bristal, developed a slight limp. The Brewster parents figured she had hurt herself at dance. Maybe she just pulled a muscle.

When it persisted, they took her to Portneuf Medical Center for an X-ray. Everything came back fine, so they took her home and tried to have a quiet Easter.

But every hour that passed, Bristal seemed a little less like herself. The leg she had been limping on began to give out entirely. Then her left arm stopped cooperating. A subtle eye twitch appeared. The little girl who never stopped talking, who always wanted to do exactly what her older sister was doing, went quiet.

“Within those couple of days, we noticed she didn’t talk as much, she didn’t want to walk around,” Brianna said. “She just really favored herself, and just didn’t want to let down.”

By Monday morning, they were back at Portneuf. Doctors ordered an MRI. The results were immediate and impossible to misread.

There was a large tumor on the right side of Bristal’s brain. It was almost the size of a hockey puck — about the size of a plum, Brianna said, pointing to a picture of the MRI that showed a mass so large in a brain so small it practically engulfed the entire right side of Bristal’s skull.

She was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City within 45 minutes.

Surgery and a difficult truth

Bristal was not yet 3 years old.

Surgeons at Primary Children’s successfully removed the tumor — removing most of Bristal’s skullcap to gain access to her brain and leaving her with a zig-zagged incision that stretched from ear to ear across the top of her head — during a procedure that took roughly four hours, shorter than the six the surgical team had anticipated. The resection was complete. Dr. Samuel H. Cheshier, the pediatric neurosurgeon who led the operation, was straightforward with the family from the start.

“This one looks like it’s something we can get out,” he told them before the surgery. He was right. But the news that followed the pathology report was harder to absorb.

The tumor was cancerous. Bristal had been diagnosed with an ependymoma, a form of brain cancer with a notable recurrence rate, particularly at the Grade 3 classification hers carried. The family had asked the medical team to be direct with them throughout the process, and the doctors obliged — warning early on that the size and apparent growth rate of the mass suggested cancer.

“We were kind of preparing from the beginning for that,” Brianna said.

Bailey described the days between the Easter limp and the cancer diagnosis as something like a soldier returning from the frontlines.

“It’s almost a shell shock of going from, okay, she hurt her leg, we’re gonna go get that figured out, to your kid has cancer or a brain tumor,” he said.

The family returned home with Bristal on Monday, April 13 — just four days after surgery. Now, with a lumbar puncture still ahead to determine whether the cancer has spread to or originated in her spinal fluid, Bristal is preparing for six weeks of radiation therapy at Primary Children’s — five days per week, with her going under general anesthesia for each session due to her age.

Chemotherapy is not an option. This type of ependymoma, doctors told the family, does not respond to it.

A spitfire who keeps her smile

Ask anyone in the Brewster family what Bristal is like and they reach for the same word: spitfire.

She is the girl who wants to do everything her 5-year-old sister Becklyn is doing. The one who perfected the side-eye long before she could reliably walk in a straight line. Who, if you tell her not to do something, will look at you slowly with that sideways glance, and then do it anyway.

“She’s a go-getter,” said Hailey Giannini, Brianna’s stepmother. “She wants to do everything her older sister’s doing, but yet, she also has that mischievous side where if you tell her ‘don’t be doing that,’ she’s gonna give you that side eye and then go do exactly what you told her not to.”

Post-surgery, Bristal has already regained nearly full use of her left arm — close to 90 percent, by her family’s estimation — and is working through physical therapy to address weakness in her left leg, which has been slower to come back. She moves around with a small walker now, though she doesn’t always wait for it.

“One of these days, we’re gonna have to dress her up as an old woman, because she’s so cute with her walker,” Giannini said. “But even when she does not have a walker, she finds a way.”

Through all of it, Brianna said, Bristal has kept her smile. Running around the Brewster’s Pocatello home last week, you’d have no idea she’s waging war against brain cancer — as cute, bubbly, mischievous and giggly as any “threenager.” She hasn’t slowed down by choice. Her parents are the ones doing the slowing.

The financial weight of a fight like this

Before Bristal’s diagnosis, Brianna was working two jobs — an operations supervisor position at FedEx in the mornings and a role at Whoville Daycare throughout the day. Both are now on hold. She is on a leave of absence from each, devoting herself full-time to Bristal’s care.

Bailey works at ICCU, which has been supportive in allowing him time away. But six weeks of daily radiation treatments in Salt Lake City, potentially with both daughters in tow, means six weeks of lodging, travel, meals and all the costs that don’t show up on a hospital bill.

The family is hoping to secure a room at the Ronald McDonald House during treatment. If that isn’t available, the nearby University Guest House offers rooms at a patient rate of around $75 a night. Over six weeks, it adds up fast.

“It would make me feel absolutely helpless, not being there,” Bailey said of the prospect of staying home while Bristal undergoes treatment. The fundraising efforts, he said, are what make being present possible.

Bags for Bristal: A community comes together

On Saturday, May 16, the Blackfoot 6th Grade School Gym and Cafeteria served as the host site for the Bags for Bristal Cornhole Tournament from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event was organized by cousins in the Blackfoot Cornhole League, who stepped in to help spearhead the fundraiser after Bristal’s diagnosis.

The tournament runs a Switcholio format, meaning players didn’t need a partner to register. Entry was $15 per player, with trophies and prizes being awarded to the top three teams.

Raffle prizes from local businesses were available throughout the day, along with food. A separate raffle was held for two vehicles — a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 2007 GMC Denali.

Dave Gallegos of the Blackfoot Cornhole club said the event was a massive success, raising several thousand dollars for the Brewster family.

Dave Gallegos of the Blackfoot Cornhole club wrote this on Facebook on May 17

What an amazing day! Thank you everyone for making it all happen,” Gallegos posted to Facebook the day after the tournament. “This was the biggest fundraiser we have ever done — 76 players, 100s of raffle prizes and donations, two cars donated and raffled away, food, treats,drinks and more!”

His post continued, “There were so many people and businesses that helped or contributed to this event for Bristal and her family! Everyone has shown so much support, generosity and love and that’s what this is all about. People coming together in time of need. Thank you to everyone and much love!!”

How to help

Those who were unable to attend the tournament but still want to support the Brewster family have several options for contributing directly.

ICCU has set up a dedicated donation account under the name “Bristal’s Medical Support,” account number 754531946.

Direct Venmo contributions can be made to @Bailey-Brewster-2 and @Montana-Richardson-3.

The Brewster family said they are not people who typically ask for help — perhaps the most Idaho thing about them, that instinct to figure it out quietly, on their own.

But their tribe — their family and the local community at large — didn’t give them that option.

“There’s been so many people that we don’t even know that have donated or just shared our posts,” Brianna said. “We’re just so grateful.”

Giannini provided the Idaho State Journal with the following statement after the fundraiser was held:

“We would like to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone. The benefit was a huge success and it’s all due to our amazing community! We appreciate everything from donations, to the great attendance at the benefit, right down to the positive thoughts and prayers. bristal still has a long road ahead of her but having the community’s support has made this terrible road a little more bearable.”

She added, “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Bristal turned 3 in early May. She will spend part of her birthday month in treatment. But she’ll spend it smiling, moving at whatever pace her walker or her own sheer stubbornness allows, keeping her parents on their toes the way she always has.

Nobody, it turns out, fights alone in Pocatello.