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Blood Cancer
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the most common type of blood cancer found in children. It starts in the bone marrow and causes the body to produce an overabundance of unhealthy white blood cells. The two most common types of leukemia are acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which kids tend to get, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which occurs more frequently in adults. Another type of childhood blood cancer is lymphoma, which affects the immune system and lymphocytes. The two types of lymphoma are Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. With lymphoma, the infected cells do not properly protect the body and they push out the healthy cells.
Shelby
On August 26, 2018, parents Laura and Ryan rushed their eight-year-old daughter, Shelby, to the hospital—she was having trouble breathing and her lips were turning blue. After a few chest x-rays, doctors diagnosed her with a respiratory syncytial virus infection...
Kyle
Fourteen-year-old Kyle was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) on January 15, 2018, after being rushed to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. T-ALL is an fast-growing type of leukemia, or blood cancer, in which too many T-cell lymphoblasts (immature...
Andrew
Described by his parents as “a boy with a whole ‘lot of character who has never met a stranger,” six-year-old Andrew is known to light up the room and put a smile on everyone’s faces. An active child, Andrew started playing soccer at the age of two-and-half, followed...
Jacqueline
It all started when 13-year-old Jacqueline began experiencing swelling along the side of her neck back in November of 2018. Her mom, Maria, noticed that Jackie was self-conscious of the swelling and was trying to hide it with sweatshirts and turtlenecks. Concerned,...
Elijah
Elijah, now 11, was a healthy 8-year-old boy when he began experiencing frequent headaches. His parents Lakesha and Billy also noticed that he always seemed sleepy, so they took him to the doctor. On January 3, 2017, Elijah was diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer of the...
Marcel
Marcel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at the age of two-and-a-half. It started with fevers and continued with Marcel waking up screaming during the night. His parents, Ana and Marcel Sr., started noticing that his balance was off and he was...
Charles
Photo credit: Jeff Roffman When Charles, a.k.a. Charlie, began experiencing flu-like symptoms, little did he know his holiday season was about to be turned upside down. On Christmas Eve of 2018, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common...
King
At just two-and-a-half years old, King was diagnosed in June of 2016 with a rare combination of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and G6PD, an enzyme deficiency that is incurable and complicates chemotherapy treatment. Now five, King is working through a...
Sonnet
Described by her parents as a “wild and free” four-year-old girl, Sonnet began suffering from leg pain in October of 2018 that would wake her up at night. Initially, it went away quickly and was dismissed as growing pains. However, as the pain spread to her hips and...
Alex
Alex’s journey started with a slight pain in his neck. An x-ray discovered a very rare type of cancer called Langerhan Cell Histiocytosis. Only 1 in 200,000 kids get affected by this awful disease. In just on month, Alex had to have an MRI, open neck biopsy, getting a...