4-year-old Dearborn Heights girl dies after being diagnosed with rare cancer

A 4-year-old girl from Dearborn Heights, Sindous Maria Shoucair, has tragically passed away due to cancer.

The young child, who was just shy of her fifth birthday on April 25th, was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer on March 27, 2022.

Sindous’s mother, in a Instagram post from 2022, shared the shocking speed of her daughter’s diagnosis. “You’d think it would take time for doctors to find out if someone has cancer. Scans, labs, tests, biopsies. Maybe, sometimes it does. That wasn’t the case with Sindous. All the doctors knew just with the first, very routine, CT scan. In less than 24 hours of going into the ER, they diagnosed her,” she said.

The diagnosis was Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an aggressive and rare form of cancer that affects the pons of the brain. This area controls essential functions such as breathing, swallowing, motor function, and more. Due to its location, DIPG is challenging to treat. “Chemotherapy isn’t typically used as there aren’t any known effective medications. To surgically remove it is impossible due to where it is in the brain. Radiation is the only known treatment

– only prolonging survival,” Sindous’s mother explained.

The family’s statement also highlighted the lack of awareness and funding for pediatric cancer, which limits research and potential treatments. “If DIPG is such a horrible disease, why haven’t we heard of it? Because funding for pediatric cancer is scarce and therefore the research is limited,” she added.

The community of Dearborn Heights mourns the loss of young Sindous Maria Shoucair, a reminder of the devastating impact of pediatric cancer and the urgent need for increased research and awareness.