Fund Childhood Cancer Research in Honor of Rally Kid Colton
Fund Childhood Cancer Research in Honor of Rally Kid Colton
Colton’s Cancer Journey
Colton Hall is a beautiful gift to this world. From the moment he was born, we noticed how people gravitated towards him. He is kind, caring leader and never knows a stranger. We knew from the beginning that he has the gift of relationships and people. He lived most of his life in South Korea as a military child and made so many friends around the world.
Our family moved back to the United States to Columbus, Georgia in May of 2022. We were excited to live in the United States after living abroad for the 6 years before it. Colton was excited to dive into soccer and met so many new friends right away. He had the most amazing 2nd grade teacher and loved spending time with family. His two brothers kept him busy and taught him so many new things. In February 2023, we started to notice that for the first time, Colton was having trouble keeping up with his friends when playing soccer. Where he had always led the pack when running, he was now having trouble keeping up when running. We took him to the doctor, and he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and given breathing treatments.
We began noticing that he wasn’t feeling well each week at school. We would take him to the doctor, and he was diagnosed with ear infections and then a virus. He had never been this sick before. He was always such a healthy child. Then my father passed away at the end of March. At his funeral, we noticed that Colton needed to sit more often and was tiring faster but we thought it was due to the stress of the events. After a quick trip to visit friends, Colton started getting car sick. The second week of April, he got sick on the bus going to his Gifted School. We knew in our hearts something wasn’t right. We demanded a blood test be given. We thought that he could be Type 1 Diabetic like our oldest son. He had been diagnosed two weeks after arriving back in the United States. We held our ground even going against the advice of the medical professionals and wouldn’t leave until we got a blood test. This was on a Tuesday. On Thursday evening, our doctor called us and said that they found 4% blasts in Colton’s blood. He said that it might be leukemia and that the next day, he made an appointment in Atlanta for us to see a Pediatric Oncologist. I remember telling Colton that we needed to go to a doctor that would help us understand why he felt so bad lately. I will never forget how he didn’t question me that day or seem confused. He knew that something was wrong with how he felt too. He will always be the most intuitive person I have ever met. We left right away to go to Atlanta and Delta Airlines flew my husband to meet us (He is a pilot for Delta).
On Friday, April 14th, we met with Dr. Aumann. There are times when you KNOW that God puts the right people in your life and that day, it was Dr. Aumann. He first asked us what we already knew about the appointment that day. We told him. He said that he would do tests to let us know what was happening. Then I saw him examine Colton. He stopped during his examination and said, we would know more from the blood tests but that from his examination, he thought that it was leukemia. I will never forget the feeling that washed over us as a family in that moment. I don’t remember much of what was said until it was confirmed that he did indeed have B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and that his blasts were now at 77%. Colton was admitted to the hospital right away and a port was placed so that he could begin chemotherapy. When he began chemotherapy, his blasts were at 88%. That is how fast Leukemia moves.
Immediately, we began fighting as a team to beat the war against Leukemia in Colton’s body. He redefined what brave means and is constantly showing the world what extraordinary looks like. He was able to achieve remission at the end of the induction phase. He still has a long road ahead of him, but we are taking each phase one step at a time together. He has built a strong community of supporters that follow him on Colton’s Courage on Facebook that pray and celebrate along beside him. He is the real champion of all of this at just 9 years old. We can’t explain the why or the how, but we can explain the warrior in the fight. He is a ball of strength and courage and is putting a face to the war against childhood cancer. We believe in him and know that HE is the real deal. His light is SO bright. Please support him as he fights against Leukemia and help us share his story.