I had heard of St. Baldrick's and supported friends at past events but I never knew too much about the organization. That all changed in November 2019 when my youngest son, Ian, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). You can see a picture of him at the bottom of this page as the "Honored Kid".
Ian is your typical 2 1/2 year old ball of energy. In the week or two prior to diagnosis we started noticing bruises on his legs. He is always roughhousing with his older brother so we figured it was normal. However, the bruising got worse. My wife, Cara, called our pediatrician. He said that based on the fact Ian recently was on antibiotics that it could be something called ITP which can be treated with steroids. He gave us an 8:45am appointment the next day because he knew we would need blood-work to confirm the diagnosis. My wife told him she was worried. He asked what she was worried about. Her answer was "Leukemia". Do a Google search for excessive bruising in children and you will see why she was worried. He told her that every pediatrician encounters about two cases of leukemia in their career and that he had already hit his quota.
November 8th, 2019 was a difficult day for our family. Almost immediately upon arriving at the pediatrician's office that morning we could tell something was wrong. The doctor was not saying much and directed us to go to the local ER to have blood-work performed and see a hematologist. Again, we knew something was wrong as more and more doctors came by and there was lots of whispering taking place at the nurses station. After a few hours we were give the formal diagnosis. We were devastated. We asked what we needed to do as a follow up. They told us that we could not leave and had to be transported via ambulance to begin treatment immediately. We eventually arrived at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia around 10pm that night and have been receiving care from their amazing staff ever since.
Standard treatment for pediatric ALL is a marathon, not a sprint. The protocol calls for 2 1/2 years of treatment. The good news is that the success rate is extremely high. Ian is doing great so far and we will do whatever it takes to cure our little boy.
Now I need your help! Will you make a donation? Every dollar makes a difference for the thousands of infants, children, teens, and young adults fighting childhood cancers. To be clear, your entire donation will go to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, not to me or my son. St. Baldrick's is an amazing organization that educates families and funds research for childhood cancers. Please check out their website to learn more.
Finally, if you're feeling brave... join my team and get your head shaved with me.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I thank you on behalf of my son, Ian, and our entire family.
My wife is keeping a blog detailing our experience. You can read it here: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mr.ian
