Thank you for supporting my son and the more than 300,000 kids worldwide who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. By sharing the gifts of your time, talent and money with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, you're supporting research to give all kids with cancer a better chance for a cure.
My son Loukas was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at the age of 4 in 2019. We found out by him complaining of pain in his right arm so I had him evaluated. A mass was found which started the whirlwind of doctors appointments, MRI, scans and surgery to biopsy the spot. Within 3 days, we got the call no parent wants to get, "Your son has formally been diagnosed with Osteosarcoma".
Over the next 9 months, he had 3 different chemo treatments that required anywhere from 3-7 days in the hospital, loss of his hair, weight loss, mouth sores, fevers and bloody noses that required hospital stays, blood and platelet transfusions, CT scans, echo cardiograms, hearing tests, and limb salvage surgery with placement of a metal prosthesis.
We were told he was in remission and for the next two and a half years he had to have CT scans done to monitor his lungs since Osteosarcoma metastasizes to the lungs. In February of 2023, 2 spots were found in his lungs. He had 2 separate surgeries to remove the spots. One month after the 2nd spot was removed (July of 2023), Loukas started having pain in his right arm again and became lethargic. He was taken to the ER where they were suspecting pneumonia. However, he had 2 good sized masses in his lungs. We were told that there was nothing that could be done and take him home on hospice care to spend whatever time he has left as a family.
To be told that was heartbreaking and completely soul crushing. To have to tell your child that he could die is one of the hardest things you could ever do as a parent. For my son to then say with tears in his eyes, "I don't want to die", was a complete punch in the gut. We were given the option to try radiation treatments so Loukas had 10 radiation treatments over 10 days to help with pain. But as a family, we were not ready to give up. Loukas's hospice doctor mentioned 2 forms of treatments so we wanted to see if it was an option for Loukas. Once again, we were told there was nothing that could be done. We wanted a second opinion and were told that one of the treatments could be an option. We pushed to try it and we were finally given the chance to try.
The treatment plan was 2 weeks on, one week off. Loukas couldn't handle the treatment and it had to be stopped 13 days in. We had to rush him to the hospital because he was having hallucinating episodes. After running tests, his magnesium levels were extremely low. He was given a magnesium treatment and basically told again that there was nothing else that could be done. It took Loukas a couple of weeks to recover. We discussed the option of doing the treatment at a lower dose and his oncologist gave us the option of 1 week on, 2 weeks off. He had 17 treatments, a change in oncologists and then we were asked to have scans to determine the status of Loukas's tumors. To hear the words, "The tumors are gone and there is just scar tissue" was a complete shock. To go from there is nothing that can be done and he has 2-4 months left to just having scar tissue where the tumors were, was a complete miracle.
Loukas has been considered to be in remission for the 2nd again since October of 2024. He is being monitored through CT scans and bloodwork every couple of months. We know this fight is not over, but we are a family that will continue to fight. We could never thank the doctors, nurses, therapists, surgeons, family members, friends, our community, and the Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation enough for their time, support and effort to guide us and fight along side us during this difficult journey.
