Our son Levi was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (or ALL) when he was 21 months old. He had not been gaining weight, and we had scheduled a weight check with his pediatrician for March. A few weeks prior to his appointment, Amy noticed some small bruising on Levi that she couldn't pinpoint the cause of, but continued to monitor. Two days before his appointment, she noticed swollen lymph nodes. From those 3 symptoms, you can Dr Google yourself into a cancer diagnosis, so it was a tough weekend before his appointment. When we went in, his pediatrician tried to reassure us but also noted that he was alarmingly pale, and ordered labs. We pulled into our driveway 20 minutes later and received a phone call from her that we needed to take him right into Children's ER for a blood transfusion, and that he more than likely did, in fact, have cancer. It was the worst afternoon of our lives. 

The next few days were a whirlwind, and Children's was amazing through it all. We knew by the end of the night that it was leukemia, and by the next morning we knew what type of leukemia. From there, we signed up to be part of a chemotherapy treatment study, and Levi underwent surgery to implant his port which would help with the countless blood draws, the chemotherapy IV's, and more. He had his first chemotherapy dose only a few days after diagnosis, and we were thrown into an intense first stage of treament, called frontline, that lasted for about 8 months. It consisted of 4 stages, and included 4 planned hospital stays. 

During the first year of treament, we had 12 hospital stays, Levi lost his hair twice, multiple blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, and IVIG infusions, and taken more drugs than I can single-handedly keep track of. And he has done everything with grace and absolutely unheard maturity. He has been cooperative, never flinching at port accesses, and just always went along with the flow. He has been our hero, and we are so glad that after almost 2.5 years, he's finishing treatment!

He will continue to have labs checked frequently for the next few years, and continue with some medications for a bit to help his immune system and protect his bones. Because the chemotherapy drugs are so strong, there can be many side effects such as weakened heart muscles, so he'll have echocardiograms done to check on his heart. He'll take vitamin d to help support his bone growth, because of his exposure to high amounts of steroids for treatment. He will potentially need to redo all vaccines from the beginning, as the treatment may have wiped out his immunities from previous vaccines. So while chemotherapy ends, his journey continues. And we are thrilled. 

We want to see something good in the world come from this tumultuous time in our lives. We've been surrounded with such love and support, and we want to extend that to other cancer families in our area. We're creating this page to bring awareness, and to create a personal avenue of a way to help us celebrate and honor Levi's journey by helping others that are going through similar stories. 

We invite you to contribute what you can to the Cancer Kids Fund with Children's of MN, which helps families fighting childhood cancer with expenses such as meals and parking, mortgage payments for families that need it, supportive services such as psychologists, therapists, child life specialists, art supplies and toys/games to help kids during their time at the hospital, and lastly, for treatment research. 

It means the world to have you with us, and honoring our amazing Levi.