Gofundme: https://gofund.me/1e80cdcb Meal train: If local and would like to provide a meal to the family for hospital treatment days. https://mealtrain.com/wm1z47 🧡🦁 September 6, 2024 I don't really have the right words right now to begin this part.... our story. I honestly never thought that we would be here on this end of the story, but here we are. Perhaps they don't need to be 'right' words... they just need to be words, right? Here we go... Jack is by far the sweetest and kindest 9 year old boy I know. Always one to give the BEST hugs or a good high five. He would happily look after the littles for me if I ask him to for 10 min. He would gladly say hi to everyone he meets. Just one REALLY sweet boy. I think that's what makes this story hurt really hard. I won't go into detail, but I know a lot of people ask. How did you know to take him in? What were his signs? *pale, bruising, and fatigue were his signs. A few pictures and emails back and forth with his PCP and off to the ER we went. With Matt being deployed it added a second complexity to the situation. A lot of really important people came together REALLY fast for me to make this happen as a solo parent. What I thought was going to be a vitamin deficiency, a few blood tests, and on our way we went home from the ER, has now turned into a 6 day (and counting) hospital stay. Alot of doctors came together and acted really fast to help Jack. As you can imagine I have whiplash from everything moving so fast. I like to describe it as a forest fire that won't stop burning. There will be an end in sight where they will put the fire out. That is the good news. Jack is diagnosed with B-ALL or said another way, B-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. WOW. Treatment will happen over a 2.5-3 year period we are told right now. Of course it will be a moving target, which I'm very familiar with. The first month will be really crucial. He will be receiving standard protocol treatment and after the first 30 days we will do some testing that will determine if we continue on the same route or we need to detour. The following months 2-9 will be aggressive treatment. The remainder of the time will be maintenance. I'm sure this will change as we lean into our new normal. Life is always changing. This will greatly affect Jack. He will be completely out of school for the first 30 days. No ifs ands or buts. For months 2-9 we will have to determine based on his test results post 30 day treatment. He may or may not return to school at all until 5th grade. This was the most devasting news to Jack. He loves his school, his classmates, and most of all he was REALLY looking forward to being with Mrs. Wendt. Again, this is a moving target and can very well change as time goes on. What's the goal? Cure. Yes... I even clarified it with our head oncology doctor. Is that the correct term to use? Yes... he will be cured. B-ALL is the most common Leukemia found and with some test results so far, it sounds like we caught it very early. His treatment plan as of right now is also all Chemo. There's no discussion so far of radiation, bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant. Since it will only be chemo, Jack will live a completely normal life post treatment plan. He will still be able to have babies of his own, his hair will grow back, and he will have a really cool story to tell all of his grandchildren. I made this page because it will be a really shitty first 9 months. I never ask for help much, in fact I really prefer to give all the help I can. I'm surrendering this time. I need help. I have so many people that want to help so let's do this. Now... you may have one final question... what happened with Matt? Is he still deployed? We made the call pretty early on to call Red Cross and start the process to have him return home and STAY home. He has ended his deployment early. Though not the easiest process at all, we hope to see him really soon. I won't have to do this alone. I don't want to do this alone. Please help me gather around Jack and give him all the prayers and well wishes.