Adley's Army

Adley is a 3 year old little boy living in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Some of his favorite things include his family, friends, monster trucks, sports (basketball/baseball) and superheroes! To us, Adley is the strongest superhero around.

At the end of October, Adley started having headaches and episodes of vomiting. What we thought was a viral illness turned out to be much worse. A large brain tumor was discovered in Adley's frontal lobe on an MRI on November 4th. On November 7th, Adley had surgery to remove the tumor at CHOP (Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia). When the tumor pathology returned, Adley was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric brain cancer called Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor or "ATRT" for short. ATRT is classified as a Grade IV tumor and has a poor overall prognosis with a 5 year survival rate of 32%.

Adley's treatment regimen for ATRT includes 5 rounds of high dose inpatient chemotherapy, an autologous stem cell transplant and 6 weeks of radiation. His treatment will last about 6-7 months, most of which will be spent in the hospital.

Adley has already started his treatment at Penn State Children's Hospital to be close to his family. The oncology team has been taking great care of Adley. Adley's parents, Tad and Cristy French, have been spending most of their days in the hospital making sure that Adley never has to fight this battle alone. Adley's brothers Anderson, Aiden and Alex have been a great support system for Adley, visiting often to play. Adley has been an absolute rockstar through his treatment so far. He always has a smile on his face and just wants to play and be a normal kid! He has quickly become the mayor of the Penn State Childrens Hospital. He is still as loving and sweet as ever, always caring about others more than himself. He is our superhero!

Once Adley's chemotherapy is complete, he will have to travel to CHOP for his 6 weeks of outpatient radiation - living in Philadelphia during the week and traveling home to Hershey on the weekends.

Our family has already received so much support from people all around the country. From meals to gifts to drive-by birthday parades, we are overwhelmed by the generosity. People continue to reach out to our family asking how else they can help! We have started this GoFundMe for Tad and Cristy to help ease any financial burden that treatment, travel and housing might cost. Any funds that are in excess of what the family needs will be donated to the charity Hope4ATRT. Hope4ATRT uses 100% of donations toward ATRT research. This research might be critical for Adley if his cancer recurs and will benefit all children diagnosed in the future with ATRT.

We are all very hopeful that Adley will defy the odds and become a survivor of ATRT! In the meantime, we are dedicated to giving Adley the best days possible!

Thank you for your support!

Kellie Gustas/Aunt CoCo (Adley's aunt)