Julie Desrosiers

When I was young, I knew that I was going to work with children in some form or fashion as a grownup.  By the time I was seven years old, I had narrowed my choices down to either being a teacher or a pediatrician.  Since both career choices require very similar skill sets, and because I enjoyed attending school as a student, I chose to go down the educational path.  After earning my BA in Music (2003), my BS in Elementary Education (2012), and my M.Ed. In Educational Administration (2021), and serving eight years in the private and public educational system, I founded a nonprofit school here in Omaha, NE.  By the end of the first year, my husband, Jim, and I learned that our five-year old preschool daughter, Esther Rebecca Faith, had a brain tumor - DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) - the most aggressive form of cancer that exists, with no survivors.  When Esther went to Heaven on February 12, 2023, now forever-6 years old, Jim and I realized that Esther’s fight was over but this fight still needed to be continued here on earth.  Esther opened a brand new clinical trial for DIPG on Sept. 1, 2022 (SDT-201 by SonALAsense, using Sonodynamic Therapy to kill brain tumors such as rGBM and DIPG with ROS).  Esther herself had said (at 5 years old!) that she was okay with her head being shaved and being the first for the trial because it was going to “help other kids with ports.”  Now Jim and I are carrying this torch for her, sharing her story and doing what we can to “help other kids with ports.”

It is time for me to slowly transition from the educational world into the medical world so that I can do what Esther never got a chance to do.  We still plan to continue New Heart Christian School under the umbrella of Esther’s Miracle, Inc., the new name for the nonprofit organization, with several programs to meet the needs of children and families, including educational as well as medical.  It will be more effective to have someone else direct and administrate the school, while I work on becoming a new kind of medical doctor (just as NHCS is a new kind of school).  If Esther had had more time on earth, she was going to be a doctor and/or researcher because she realized as just a kindergartener that “kids with ports” need an extra special kind of help, and she wanted to be that help and make a difference in their fight for survival.  I have witnessed first-hand that much more needs to be done for our children fighting for their lives, and as a mom of nine and an educator, I am confident that I can make a difference in Esther’s honor and memory.

Phlebotomy Clinical Experience - Methodist Hospital - Omaha, NE - September to October 2023

Phlebotomy Certification Course - Nebraska Methodist College - July to October 2023