Elliott the Valiant- Our Guiding Light

The Gray in The Lavender Gray Project stands for Brain Cancer — and for us, it carries the weight of love, loss, and hope.

On June 9th, 2023, I received a phone call that changed everything.“Shelby, I need you to take a deep breath. You have to go back to the hospital. Elliott has a tumor.”

Those words shattered the world as I knew it. The days leading up to that call — and the weeks that followed — remain a blur of fear, hospital rooms, and unanswered questions. Within just one week, we went from an ultrasound showing hydrocephalus to a partial tumor resection.

The diagnosis was one no parent should ever have to hear: Embryonal Tumor with Multilayered Rosettes (ETMR) — a rare, aggressive form of brain cancer that primarily affects children under the age of three. Elliott was only a baby.

In July, he began chemotherapy. Each day was long and heavy, but filled with hope that the treatment might give us more time. After four weeks, an MRI revealed the news we never wanted to hear: despite every effort and the best medical care, the tumor continued to grow. There was nothing more that could be done.

On August 28, 2023, our sweet Elliott — our fifth child — lost his battle with brain cancer. He was just seven months old.

Elliott’s story is the guiding light of The Lavender Gray Project. The gray represents not only brain cancer, but also the uncertainty, grief, and courage that families face in this journey. Through sharing his story, we honor him — and every child like him — by turning pain into purpose and awareness into action.