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 
 
 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. 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.  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. "Just when we thought things were settling down," Shapiro wrote. "After a routine MRI, a tumor regrowth has been found," Alexis's mom Jenny tells PEOPLE exclusively. "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," Shapiro told People. As NBC News first reported in 2013, Alexis was in elementary school when she was diagnosed with a craniopharyngioma, a benign brain tumor. "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. 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. She put on 150 lbs. in two and a half years, weighing 203 lbs. "It's such a danger to be this size," Jenny told PEOPLE in 2014. 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. 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. 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. "But she is scared and does not want surgery to remove the recurrence. "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. "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. "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!"
– 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.