A 7-year-old Ohio girl about to undergo chemotherapy to treat a brain tumor fulfilled her dream and “enlisted” in the Navy.
Tabitha Nye, who has completed several surgeries in the past two years to treat the tumor, first became aware of it after struggling to see the white board in school. Her dream has always been to join the Navy, and the service’s recruiting office in Cleveland Heights, Ohio held a mock enlistment for her last month.
According to Tabitha’s mother Melinda Nye, Tabitha was attracted to the Navy because of the service’s planes.
“Tabitha loved the Navy from the time she was little,”Nye, who served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy, told Military Times. “Her dream from the age of 3 was to join the Navy."
Tabitha “goes to the Cleveland Air Show every year, It comes on her birthday weekend,” Nye said, adding that Tabitha decided long ago that “they come just for her birthday.”
The Navy’s recruiting office in Cleveland Heights confirmed to Military Times that the mock enlistment took place on June 26.
Tabitha’s CaringBridge website, a social network designed to provide updates on a loved one’s health journey, says doctors initially found swelling behind Tabitha’s eyes when she was 5-years-old that required an emergency surgery to alleviate pressure.
An MRI later revealed a tumor in her brain. A separate MRI in January indicated that the tumor was growing and she is prepared to start weekly intravenous chemotherapy that will last for 15 months.
