When Vincent Nowroozi was three months old, his head began slightly tilting to the right.
His pediatrician in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, believed the infant just needed physical therapy to strengthen his neck muscles.
But his parents, Natalie and Ramin, had doubts that that was all that was going on and, after realizing their son's head had grown very rapidly, they were referred to the neurology department at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
An MRI in July 2018 revealed that Vincent had two cancerous masses on his brain.
He was diagnosed with atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRTs), a rare brain cancer that strikes just 30 US children every year.
Doctors didn't think Vincent was going to live to see his first birthday - but he did.
There is currently no evidence of the disease on Vincent's scans, but he still has to undergo harsh and aggressive chemotherapy to prevent a relapse.
Vincent Nowroozi, one (left and right), from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began slightly tilting his head to the right when he was three months old. His pediatrician thought he just needed physical therapy to strengthen his neck muscles
After seeing that Vincent's head had grown rapidly two months later, his parents were referred to the neurology department at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Pictured: Vincent and his father, Ramin
'He looked like a normal healthy baby so for someone to come in and tell us he had masses on his brain, was almost impossible to believe,' Vincent's mother, Natalie, told CBS Philly.
'[This has] been extremely difficult. The hardest thing we've been through in our entire lives.'
ATRT is a rare and fast-growing cancer in which tumors grow in the brain and on the spinal cord.
It's most caused by mutations in a gene called SMARCB1, which makes proteins that normally stop tumor growth.
Symptoms include headaches, loss of balance, sudden or abnormally fast head growth, nausea and vomiting.
ATRTs only make up about one to two percent of childhood brain tumors, according to Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Hospital.
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