Kevin's Battle Against Leukemia

Kevin was diagnosed with High-Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia while visiting me (sister) in Seattle for the holidays in 2013. He became extremely ill after his first IV chemo and was transferred to the ICU (septic shock) where he remained for four months. Children with Down Syndrome are sensitive to chemotherapy and therefore, Kevin was only able to receive 25% of the regular dose. Chemo only made him sick, but left the cancer intact. Kevin never reached remission and because of that, was unable to get a bone marrow transplant. After eight months of trying many chemo recipes in Seattle, Kevin's bone marrow was still full of cancer. He didn't qualify for any clinical trials because he has Down Syndrome and at that point, doctor's thought he should go back home (Texas) to spend time with family and friends. We went back to Texas, but refused to give up. In Texas, Kevin went through an intense round of chemo which made him really sick and again, did nothing to the leukemia. We felt defeated, but it was just then that we found a clinical trial that didn't exclude children with Down Syndrome. We applied to two of the four hospitals in the nation, we applied to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Children's Mercy in Kansas City. We were ecstatic when Kevin was accepted to both, we chose Kansas City because it's closer to home and there was no wait time (CHOP was 3 month wait). Kevin was flown to Children's Mercy Hospital, December 11, 2014. Since Kevin had been neutropenic since September, he kept acquiring infections from his own body. Two days before Part I of the clinical trial (collection of cells), Kevin became seriously ill. He was in septic shock and was transferred to the PICU, January 20th. He has been here ever since, fighting for his life. We set up this account for those wanting to make a donation to help with Kevin's necessities, bills and out of town expenses. It's been a rough year for our family (especially Kevin), and we couldn't have done it without the support of family, friends and everyone who has helped or cheered us on in any way. Thank you all for sticking by our side throughout this terribly tough time for us.