Alexis Shapiro, 13-Year-Old Texas Girl Who Suffered from Uncontrollable Weight Gain, Has Brain Tumor Again 
 
 Meet Alexis Shapiro, a 12-year-old Suffering from Uncontrollable Weight Gain 
 
 Alexis Shapiro Is Nearly 60 lbs. Lighter Following Gastric Sleeve Surgery 
 
 Courtesy Jenny Shapiro 
 
 Sad to say. Alexis had a routine MRI. The results are that her brain tumor has grown back. Just when we thought things were settling down. I will update when I know more. We have a lot of appts coming up. Posted by Hope and love for Alexis on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 
 
 It's been a sad week for 13-year-old Alexis Shapiro. The Texas teen – whose family has shared her struggle with hypothalamic obesity over the past few years – learned her brain tumor has grown back."After a routine MRI, a tumor regrowth has been found," Alexis's mom Jenny tells PEOPLE exclusively. "Although we always knew this was a possibility, we were just beginning to settle down."She describes the heartbreak of having to tell Alexis "the beast of a tumor" had returned: "She pulled her shirt up over her mouth, eyes watering, and said, 'I don't want to gain weight again.' The complication of hypothalamic obesity has been her biggest struggle."Alexis was first diagnosed with the benign tumor in 2011. An operation to remove it damaged the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls when a person feels hungry or full. Within months she developed hypothalamic obesity – a rare, irreversible condition that led to uncontrollable weight gain. She put on 150 lbs. in two and a half years, weighing 203 lbs. by the time she was 12."It's such a danger to be this size," Jenny told PEOPLE in 2014. "If we don't do anything about it, she is going to die from all the weight that she has gained and continues to gain."After attempts to control her weight through diet and exercise proved futile, Alexis got a sleeve gastrectomy in March 2014. Her health improved immediately – she was taken off diabetes medication and her appetite decreased. Within six months, Shapiro had lost 60 lbs. "I feel more active and more talkative," she told PEOPLE at the time. "I walk laps every day. I want to do a 5K!"And she did complete that 5K! In fact, Alexis and her family participated in several road races in 2015. But while her health seemed mostly on the upswing, her weight began to climb again. In August, doctors successfully performed gastric bypass surgery and the Shapiros thought they were finally out of the woods.Instead, they find themselves preparing for battle once again. "The last few days have been spent at the hospital, with doctor after doctor, test after test," says Jenny, who adds that the tumor is affecting Alexis's eyesight this time. "We are meeting with many different specialists to decide the best way to stop it."Throughout everything, Jenny remains incredibly proud of her daughter. "Alexis has been so strong," she says. "But she is scared and does not want surgery to remove the recurrence."Jenny and her husband Ian have vowed to stay brave for Alexis and her siblings Kayley, 11 and Ethan, 9. "We have to keep fighting," says Jenny, who keeps supporters updated through a "Hope and love for Alexis" Facebook page . "I have to show Alexis it's okay to be scared but you can't give up – and you definitely can't give up hope!" ||||| Once obese but starving: Girl with rare disorder suffers health setback 
 
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 Alexis Shapiro — the young Texas girl who captured national attention after a rare disorder left her constantly hungry and morbidly obese — has learned the brain tumor that triggered the ordeal has grown back. 
 
 Doctors discovered its return during a routine MRI, her mother Jenny Shapiro announced on Facebook this week. 
 
 "Just when we thought things were settling down," Shapiro wrote. 
 
 Upon finding out the news, Alexis "pulled her shirt up over her mouth, eyes watering, and said, 'I don't want to gain weight again.' The complication of hypothalamic obesity has been her biggest struggle," Shapiro told People. The tumor is now affecting the girl's eyesight, she added. 
 
 As NBC News first reported in 2013, Alexis was in elementary school when she was diagnosed with a craniopharyngioma, a benign brain tumor. The girl underwent successful surgery to remove it in 2011, but she developed hypothalamic obesity, a rare condition caused by damage to the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that helps control appetite. 
 
 Alexis never felt full after meals and kept eating despite the family's efforts to stop her, Shapiro wrote in an essay for TODAY last year. At 4-foot-7, the girl's weight eventually topped 200 pounds 
 
 "She could only stand for a couple for minutes and after that, she felt like her legs gave out on her," Shapiro recalled. 
 
 In March 2013, after a struggle with the family's health insurance company, Alexis finally underwent gastric sleeve weight-loss surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center that reduced the size of her stomach by 80 percent. 
 
 Alexis lost weight, but this summer, her family announced her fight against hypothalamic obesity wasn't over. She underwent a gastric bypass in August. 
 
 "We are thankful that the sleeve surgery was a success and truly saved Alexis' life. We knew that she would possibly still need the bypass," her mom wrote on Facebook. "Hypothalamic obesity is such a BEAST. I hate it." 
 
 Now, with the brain tumor growing back, the family is bracing for more doctors' appointments and medical procedures. 
 
 "We have to keep fighting," Shapiro told People. "I have to show Alexis it's okay to be scared but you can't give up - and you definitely can't give up hope!" 
 
 Follow A. Pawlowski on Google+ and Twitter. ||||| Alexis Shapiro – 13-Year-Old Who Suffered from Uncontrollable Weight Gain – Begins Brain Tumor Treatment 
 
 Meet Alexis Shapiro, a 12-year-old Suffering from Uncontrollable Weight Gain 
 
 Alexis Shapiro Is Nearly 60 lbs. Lighter Following Gastric Sleeve Surgery 
 
 Courtesy Jenny Shapiro 
 
 Courtesy Jenny Shapiro 
 
 Courtesy Jenny Shapiro 
 
 Courtesy Jenny Shapiro 
 
 Today Alexis Shapiro begins treatment for the benign brain tumor that was recently discovered to have grown back The 13-year-old girl from Cibolo, Texas, who has struggled with hypothalamic obesity learned in October that her craniopharyngioma had redeveloped."Alexis was so scared," her mom Jenny Shapiro tells PEOPLE exclusively. "She did not want another surgery."First diagnosed with the benign tumor in 2011, Alexis underwent an operation to remove it and emerged with a damaged hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls when a person feels hungry or full. Within months she developed hypothalamic obesity, a rare, irreversible condition that caused her to gain weight uncontrollably. She put on 150 lbs. in two-and-a-half years, weighing 203 lbs. by the time she was 12.Despite extreme attempts to lower her weight through diet and exercise, nothing worked – and her parents were afraid for her life. A sleeve gastrectomy in March 2014 improved Alexis's health dramatically and she lost 60 lbs. She had a gastric bypass in August 2015 to continue her progress.The family thought they were out of the woods until a routine MRI earlier this year showed that the tumor was back. After consulting with doctors and reviewing their options – including surgical removal and chemotherapy – the Shapiros applied to be part of a proton radiation study at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.Compared to traditional chemotherapy, proton therapy "is more precise and may be used to deliver a potentially higher dose of radiation to the tumor with fewer side effects," according to St. Jude's website. Alexis spent two weeks in Memphis at St. Jude's main campus undergoing tests, MRIs and PET scans before heading to an affiliated hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, where the proton therapy machine is located."She made a mask that keeps her head in the exact same place every day," says Jenny. "We need to stay for 30 treatments. She should be done in the middle of January."Unfortunately for Alexis, that means being separated from her family in Texas – dad Ian and siblings Kaylee, 11, and Ethan, 9 – for her Dec. 11 birthday, and possibly Christmas as well.But maybe not: "A couple of wonderful people in our community put together a fundraiser so we can all be together for the holiday," says Jenny. "An organization called Compassion Partners will give our family 3-day passes to Disney World. We just need to get them out here!"Three months after Alexis completes treatment, she will return to St. Jude for evaluation – although Jenny says it could take up to two years before its full effects are realized.But that is hope enough for the Shapiros. "If it works, there is an 80 percent chance of it not coming back," says Jenny, who keeps supporters updated through a "Hope and love for Alexis" Facebook page "And Alexis has been such a trooper," she says. "So brave!" ||||| The seed for Wide00014 was: 
 
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– A Texas girl who's been fighting uncontrollable hunger linked to brain-tumor surgery recently got bad news: Her tumor is back. A routine MRI spotted the regrowth in Alexis Shapiro, 13, in October, People reports. "She pulled her shirt up over her mouth, eyes watering, and said, 'I don't want to gain weight again,'" mom Jenny Shapiro recounted to People at the time. As Today explains, it was the 2011 surgery to remove the craniopharyngioma that damaged her hypothalamus and led to her hypothalamic obesity. "Alexis was so scared," Shapiro tells People of the tumor's return. "She did not want another surgery." But the 13-year-old, who gained 150 pounds over a two-and-a-half year stretch before undergoing two gastric surgeries, has found an alternative: a proton radiation study through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Unlike typical chemo, it's "more precise and may be used to deliver a potentially higher dose of radiation to the tumor with fewer side effects," says St. Jude's website. "I'm so thankful we decided to not just have surgery," wrote Shapiro on Facebook last month alongside a photo of the mask Alexis wears during her treatments. Shapiro tells People they have an 80% chance of keeping her benign tumor away if successful. The 30-course treatment, which Alexis is currently receiving at a Jacksonville, Fla., hospital, should wrap up in mid-January. The only downside is that Alexis won't be with her family for her birthday on Dec. 11 and maybe even Christmas, though a fundraiser has been set up to send the family to Disney World for three days. Read more about Alexis' battle here.