Thank you for supporting me 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. Peyton Brown was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 17, 2022 while working for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. He had been experiencing severe pain in his legs for over a week to the point that he could longer walk. In the process of diagnosing the leg pain it was discovered that he had a hemoglobin count of 3, 1/5 of the normal amount of blood in his body. His condition was considered so dire that he was evacuated to the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, CO via helicopter. It was later determined that he had severe staph infections in both legs that had to be surgically removed before he could start treatment for leukemia. At the end of June, he began chemotherapy treatment with a wide variety of different chemotherapy drugs as he recovered from the leg surgeries. It took several months for him to be able to walk on his own again. In October, it was discovered that his condition relapsed, and it was determined that a bone marrow transplant was the best path forward. In order to prepare for the transplant Peyton underwent immunotherapy treatment for a number of weeks to limit the amount of leukemia cells as much as possible as well as a week of very harsh chemotherapy to lower his blood product counts as much as possible. On November 21, 2022 Peyton received the stem cell transplant from his older brother Zach who happened to be a 100% genetic match.
After almost a week after the transplant Peyton began to experience very harsh side effects from the chemotherapy while his body started to produce new blood products. His liver and kidneys began to shut down and he spent almost three weeks in the ICU where he underwent dialysis and developed pneumonia. Peyton also had to battle bouts of Graft vs Host Disease in which medication was used to suppress the strength of his new immune system to prevent it from attacking his body. On Christmas Day, tests showed that Peyton was finally producing his own blood products from his donor cells. Peyton was finally able to leave the hospital on January 6th, 2023, and spent the next two months living in a nearby apartment where Zach also took on the role of his caregiver. After returning home to Ft. Collins, Peyton had the understanding that he was still immunocompromised and needed to exercise extreme caution with all of his activities. On November 21, 2023 his final bone marrow biopsy showed no detectable leukemia cells, and he is considered in remission. Currently, Peyton continues to recover his immune system through revacctionations and monthly IVIG infusions. In August of 2023 Peyton returned to Colorado State University as a full time student and is excelling in his field of study of Horticulture.
