Syre's Cancer Fighting Fund

Latest Update:  December 15th, 2021


Help Syre fight cancer!!!

In the late winter of 2020, Michael and Camille, the parents, noticed that their baby Syre had begun showing more tired and irritable behavior. It was assumed to be from his chronic ear infections, along with maybe the last bit of teething.

However, recently his mother Camille noticed that his stomach was hard and seemed it seemed to look larger than normal. Immediately, Michael and Camille took him to the local doctor.

After the X-ray came back as “abnormal” they rushed young Syre to the Children’s Hospital to get a more thorough examination. It was confirmed to be a tumor. On Thursday, 5-6-21, doctors confirmed the tumor to be cancerous.

The malignant tumor they found in his abdomen is close to the size of his head. It’s pressing on his surrounding organs, straining them, causing a noticeable bloat. Currently they are still in the hospital waiting on the test results for type of cancer. The doctors expect they will need to start chemotherapy immediately to shrink this tumor down to a size that can be safely resected. Camille has quit her job, so Syre can be safely be taken care of in their home to protect his soon-to-be very fragile immune system.

As a good family friend, I am unable to imagine the emotional toll they are going through and the best help we can offer is to come together to take some of the financial burden off this lengthy treatment. Please give whatever amount you can in hopes that the unfairness of this young child’s cancer can be fought off by the best treatment available. See below for Other Ways to Help if you'd like to lend a helping hand in more ways, such as your time and efforts.

Thank you and please pray if you are willing!!!

- Alex
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Latest updates as of 5/8/2021:

· Syre's blood transfusion went well, he received one unit of blood on Sunday, 5/9. On Monday he went under general anesthesia for a bone marrow biopsy, and the installation of his portacath implant in his chest, as you can see in his more recent pictures. They are concerned with some 4-6mm pulmonary nodules (in his lungs) as it is a common place for RMS to travel. The Oncologist is expecting it to be subtype Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma. We are awaiting the final biopsy results from the primary tumor and from the bone marrow to get a more accurate picture of how much it has traveled so far.

One of our Oncologists, Dr. Nair, states that it is likely he'll be treated as Stage IV ERMS due to the indeterminate nodules appearing in his lungs.
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Please read below for how this all happened, and the ways we are asking for your help for the best chances for Syre to overcome this disease.


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Below is from Syre's father, Michael Smith:
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    I know everyone is busy these days, and I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read this. To summarize the situation: My youngest son, Syre, has been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor, and it is concerningly large. According to the doctor at this point, it is most likely Rhabdomyosarcoma. I am writing this to reach out to all our friends and family, in hopes to come together for him to survive and thrive by the end of treatment.

I'm humbly reaching out to anyone and everyone willing to help us make sure our son Syre beats cancer once and for all.

- Discovery of the Mass -


On the first day of May, we realized Syre's belly was swollen, so much he now had an outie belly-button. An X-ray and ultrasound later, the doctors confirmed he has a massive tumor in his abdomen, pushing all of his organs out of the way, as seen in the MRI photo. We apparently misunderstood why he's been fussy and tired until this very moment...

During his first CT scan, the tumor was measured to be 16 cm x 13 cm x 8 cm, bigger than a grapefruit.

This tumor is frankly huge now. It truly feels like it came out of nowhere, which is terrifying when I think about it. Syre is clearly exhausted just carrying this weight around, and he doesn't even understand why he feels this way. It breaks my heart to see him having to just lay around most of the day, since it's so difficult and uncomfortable to move around or even sit up. The poor little boy is just irritable and tired 80% of his waking hours.

As of this writing, his hemoglobin blood count has been around 6.5 gm/dL, when 11 - 13 is the normal healthy range for children. It's been under 7 since his first surgery on Wednesday, as they performed an incisional biopsy that day and told us the tumor is so vascular, they had to monitor him and make sure the bleeding stopped safely before they could conclude surgery.

Friday 5-7-21, they confirmed he has malignant (cancerous) cells inside his tumor, and they are performing three surgeries this coming Monday morning, 5-10-2021, including the addition of his chemo port. his 2nd birthday is only four weeks away now.

The most critical information is yet to be confirmed, including how aggressive the cancer cells are, how far it may have metastasized (traveled and grown in other parts of the body), and exactly which kind of cancer it is. So far, our oncologist, Dr. Abigail Cruze, seems pretty certain it is a type of Rhabdomyosarcoma. She's probably the easiest name I can think of among our doctors assisting, as we've met over a dozen, including pediatric doctors, surgeons, hematologists, and pathologists as well. 



- How Your Donation Helps Syre -


The most difficult part of treating Syre for cancer is the impact on his life and his mother's life during treatment and for a significant period of time afterward. Syre will need constant, close oversight of his state of health, and to be made to eat and drink as much as possible for his best chances of success long-term. Despite being picky already, the doctors have ensured us he will become even more of a picky eater during chemotherapy. He will also be immunocompromised both during and after his cancer treatment cycles, and will be very limited in how and where he can spend his time. 

Since we can't risk him getting sick, Syre cannot go to daycare either. His mother will, unfortunately, need to quit her job, and not be able to go to school for a long time, due to Syre's needs of care. It is difficult to include others in his care on a regular basis because if someone brings a viral infection into the house, he could die from it, especially the flu.

With your donations, we will be able to afford additional support for Syre's daily life by enabling his mother to give more of her undivided attention to him. We will utilize the funds for help such as cleaning services, fresh food delivery, laundry services, and more engaging toys and other forms of gainful stimulation for him. 

Due to the risks, he can't do things a lot of healthy kids can usually do, such as go to the park, the store, or even a relative's house. My fear is that the lack of a fulfilling life during his treatments will sap the joy from his heart during his cancer treatments, resulting in a body and soul that isn't fighting this cancer as hard as it otherwise could be fighting.



- Other Ways To Help -


There are lots of ways we could really use your help for Syre!

Simply making things easier at home for Syre and his mother really helps, or even bringing something over for Syre to enjoy. There is no question that this is going to be a marathon of an undertaking for both Syre and his parents. It's also going to be especially difficult yet important that he eats and drinks as much as possible, much more so than a usual proper diet. Some things that come to mind include:

    ‣  Bringing kid-friendly dinner over!  (so mom doesn't have to cook)
    ‣  Making him a dessert or snack!  (so he's more likely to eat something)
    ‣  Coming by to handle the lawn!  (so mom and dad have more time for him)
    ‣  Connecting us with quality, affordable help with house upkeep!
    ‣  A fun little toy you think Syre might like to play with!
    ‣  Making supermarket trips for us!
    ‣  Stop by just to say hi and check on us!
    ‣  Outdoor entertainment coming up  (where he can keep a safe distance)? Let us know!
    ‣  Share this!  (so more people who would like to help can know about it)
    ‣  Get a flu shot, make sure no one in your family is sick, and ask Camille when you can visit!
    ‣  Even a quick text or call to see how things are going will help!

(If you'd like to stop by to spen time with us, especially Syre, please make sure you've had a recent flu shot, and that no one in your household is suspected to be sick - We have to err on the side of caution every single time.)

If you want to bring items over of any kind, please try to sanitize them to eliminate any risk of getting Syre sick. Even pre-owned toys are welcome if you think Syre might like it and you're confident the item will not get him sick. Always check with his mother first, please! On the flip side, the Oncologist says that during his cancer therapy, he can snack and eat or drink almost anything he wants when he's picky, because what's critical is hydration and calories.

The types of toys Syre likes include:

Octonauts, Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, toys with buttons and switches, small toys he can hold and walk around with, show tunes-type cartoons & movies, things like that.

Again, thank you to anyone who takes the time to read any of this concerned father's outpour today. Thank you for sharing, helping, praying, or reaching out to us.


P.S - For those of you who would like more information as to how this appeared to develop from our perspective, I've moved that story to below:



- The Story -


As recently as November, I have videos of Syre laughing, rolling on the floor, and running around. It was only a few months ago that he was climbing things and jumping off the couch onto pillows.

Today, he can barely maintain a walk for more than a couple of minutes, and even then he has to stop frequently. All his strides are more akin to a waddling motion. I see him try to hustle once in a while, but only lasts for maybe three seconds. When he slowly tries to climb down from a stool or something, it hurts and he struggles to finish dismounting anything without help. He can't sit normally, has to splay his knees, or sit on his feet.

Everything seemed perfectly normal throughout 2020, honestly. As the new year began, Syre slowly became more irritable and tired during parts of the day, which was easily attributed to being a child his age, recurring ear infections, and possibly some leftover teething pains. But months went by and he only got less energetic and more irritable, until it was most of the day and much of the night. His stomach was a little hard, at the beginning of April, but not big, and we assumed he was getting constipated from his picky, limited diet he had developed.

Then one weekend, his mother, Camille, showed me how his belly looked big. Bigger than usual. And I agreed, but we waited another day.

The next day, as he was standing in the shower, arms dropped on his sides, face tilted to let the water run down his head, Camille insisted his belly was too big, even pointing out he did not have an outie belly button before now. We decided to take him to the primary doctor in the morning. Primary Pediatrics ordered him an X-ray due to the unusual feeling of his stomach. The x-ray came back abnormal. Within hours, Syre was admitted to where we are now, the Navicent Children's Hospital in Macon, GA. an MRI confirmed it: The unknown mass is a very large tumor in his abdomen.