Father: 11-year-old son‘s simple headache turned ’life-threatening’

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - A Las Vegas father has a warning for other parents to pay attention to their child's symptoms that could be something serious: his 11-year-old son's trip to the doctor for a headache led to an emergency airlift and brain surgery.

"The biggest lesson learned for us parents is, react. A lot of people say, they're trying to get out of school or what not. This was not the case. He had a life-threatening condition," said Elijah's father Richard Portillo.

Last week, 11-year-old Elijah Portillo was airlifted from Las Vegas to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Doctors performed emergency surgery to remove a 3-centimeter tumor from the base of his skull.

Two months ago, Elijah, a student at Jack L. Schofield Middle School, fell at school and had trouble standing. When his family took him to the doctor's office, a staff member assessed him and determined he was fine, stating that his blood pressure could be the cause.

For the past two weeks, Elijah's headaches escalated to the point where he lost sleep. That's when the family took him to a local standalone emergency room. A CAT scan discovered a mass in Elijah's brain at the base of his skull.

"The doctor said that he needs to go...so he could get airlifted to Utah. I need to go to the house and pack a bag for Elijah and me, because we're going to be airlifted," Portillo said. His wife and Elijah's mother relies on dialysis and is blind and could not quickly go with them.

Late last week, doctors performed the seven-hour surgery.

"I'm so relieved that he got through the surgery. I'm forever, forever grateful. I feel that the prayers worked 100%," Portillo said.