The hardest thing for any parent to hear is that your child has cancer. But that is the unfortunate reality Tara and Tyler currently face with their two year old son, Austin.

On Wednesday May 24th, Tyler got a call from daycare to pick Austin up due to a fever. Austin had been struggling with ear infections and had a pending surgery to have tubes placed in his ears and his adenoids removed. Daycare wanted a note from his doctor that he wasn’t contagious so they went to the doctor. The doctor happened to notice Austin was a little pale and decided to do a finger stick to check his hemoglobin. His hemoglobin came back dangerously low (at a 3) and they were instructed to go straight to the ER where Tara met them. In the ER, a blood transfusion was started and Tara and Austin were loaded into an ambulance and driven an hour away to a children’s hospital. Once at the children’s hospital, they were admitted directly to the pediatric ICU. Preliminary workups suggested ALL (acute lymphocytic leukemia). Cancer.

Thursday May 25th, Austin’s diagnosis was confirmed and he was scheduled for his first surgery and chemo treatment for the very next day.

On Friday, May 26th Austin received a PICC line, had a bone marrow biopsy, a lumbar puncture, and started chemotherapy. Eight days later, Austin was finally released from the hospital and able to return home.

All tests to date are positive and Austin has a very high chance to beat ALL with minimal long term effects. However, as any parent can image, this journey will be a long one. Chemotherapy is scheduled for a year and a half. Tara will be taking an extended absence from work to care for Austin and their other two children. Tara and Tyler’s middle child, J, is also struggling with health problems and all three children have food allergies to multiple common food items.

This GoFundMe is designed to help Tara and Tyler with basic necessities for the duration of Austin’s treatment. They are lucky to have great health benefits, but will be surviving on only one income for the foreseeable future. Funds will go to help with childcare costs for their other two children, groceries, gas (Austin’s treatment is an hour away from their home each direction and they are making multiple trips per week), and other household necessities.