When Krista was four months old, she became constipated, and Janice took her to the pediatrician. The doctor took Krista?s measurements and found that her head had grown two centimeters in the two weeks since he had last seen her. Concerned, he recommended the Brewers take Krista to the hospital for tests. A computed tomography (CT) scan, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the entire left side of Krista?s brain cavity was cancerous. She was diagnosed with choroid plexus carcinoma, a very rare type of brain cancer. .

Choroid plexus tumors arise within the brain cavity, or ventricles, where spinal fluid is produced. They are usually benign and cured by surgery, but Krista?s was malignant.

"A cell must have gone haywire for the tumor to have grown that far," Janice says the doctors told her. Pressure on her brain caused Krista?s constipation and, for a short time, caused her to go blind. She needed surgery right away. "The doctor was very honest. He told me he couldn?t guarantee anything," says Janice. "It was hard to hear, but it was better knowing the truth going in."

The surgery lasted eleven hours, but even so, the doctors had to leave behind 10% of the tumor. During Krista?s two and a half week recovery in the hospital, Janice stayed with her as much as she could, while Justin stayed at home with Shelby, their eight-year-old. "Shelby took it pretty hard," Janice recalls. "I wasn?t with her much during that time, and there was a lot of shuttling back and forth between family and friends. It was a hard time."

After surgery, Krista had to undergo heavy chemotherapy, and there was another exploratory surgery in 1999. But for the last two years, Krista has been in remission. "Her right side is a little weak because of the tumor, but all her teachers in pre-K say she?s doing great in everything. She knows her numbers and letters and colors. She?s got a curly head of hair now, too," says Janice.

Every six months, Krista goes for an MRI. Her family prays. "Faith has brought our family closer than ever before," says Janice Brewer. "Krista has a birthmark on her back from when she was born that looks just like lips, and I know that angels kissed her. My advice for people who have to face something like this: you just have to believe there?s hope."