Denham Springs -- An 11-year-old girl in Denham Springs is in the fight of her life as she battles a rare brain tumor. In January, Katie Tanton was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, also known as DIPG.

For most of the last several months, she's spent nearly all of her time in the hospital, undergoing treatment.

Tanton says that she first saw signs that something was wrong while running cross-country last year.

"Like I stated, seeing double, getting lightheaded. It was on like the second lap," Tanton said.

Last November, Katie's parents, Austin and Breann Tanton, started noticing their daughter having persistent headaches.

"We took her to the doctors. She just kept having persistent headaches, and then in January, we noticed some different things happening with her eyes," Breann said.

Following that, they took her to the emergency room.

"They did a CT scan and saw that there was something there, and sent us to a children's hospital in Baton Rouge. They did some MRI's and found that she had a mass growing on her brain stem."

The Tanton's ended up at St. Jude Children's Hospital's main campus in Memphis, Tennessee. It was there that Katie was diagnosed with DIPG. She began radiotherapy on Feb. 18, the day of her 11th birthday.

"It helped her a lot as far as being able to walk again and being able to talk. A lot of that is the steroids that have helped that. She was having a hard time. She didn't want to eat a lot because she had a hard time chewing," Katie's father, Austin Tanton, said.

Katie underwent 30 rounds of radiation, five days a week for six weeks. She finally rang the bell on April 1, marking the end of this phase of her treatment. However, according to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the treatment only helps temporarily, as it does not cure patients with DIPG, which is currently incurable.

"It was emotional because we know that she has a very long, hard journey ahead of her," Breann said.

The Tanton's say their next plan is to hopefully go to Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, for an experimental trial.

We're now in the process of trying to get her approved for one of those clinical trials. It has to happen pretty quickly because they all have to start within like six weeks of her finishing radiation," Breann said.

As for Katie, even as time has gotten tough, she's still kept a smile on her face and hopes to go to Disneyland in California, where she also has family.

"I want to see Bluey," Katie told WBRZ.

Her parents told WBRZ that they could not be prouder of Katie for continuing to fight.

"It's just a hard time in our lives right now. I love that girl so much. She's the first one to come hug me every morning. She's my best little friend," Austin Tanton said.

The Tanton's will also be hosting a fundraiser Saturday, April 11, at Sidney Hutchinson Park to raise money to help Katie continue the fight. It will begin at 1 p.m. The family says the fundraiser will be
-Selling raffle tickets for a Yorkshire Pig
-Selling drinks
-Cake Walk
-Music and Games
-Selling tickets for Jambalaya Dinner Plate for the location in Denham Springs, $12 each, good for 1 year.

The Tanton's also told WBRZ that there is a GoFundMe to help Katie. It can be accessed by looking up "Donate to Support for Katie's Medical Journey, Organized by Ashley Bellizzi," on the GoFundMe website.