Conner's Cause

My 8-year old nephew, Conner, has been diagnosed with high-risk Stage 4 Neuroblastoma.  I have started this campaign to support my sister-in-law & brother-in-law, Nikki & Robert Hassell.  Although their lives have stopped... bills and household expenses don't. They also have 3 other boys to care for.  The youngest was born on August 15th, 2016... less than 2 weeks before Conner's diagnosis. They have already experienced the pain of losing a child when their daughter passed away from complications of Gastroschisis at 26 days old.  

ALL funds will go to help Conner's Mom and Stepdad pay for treatment, travel expenses and other bills they accrue.  Conner will experience a grueling 18-month treatment plan (including high dose chemo, stem cell transplants and surgery) with hospital stays ranging from 1 day to 1 month.  When Conner is healed from this journey, all remaining funds will be donated to childhood cancer research.  

Any donation, no matter the amount, is appreciated.  


Read More of Conner's Story below...
On Tuesday, August 23rd, Conner,  was scheduled for an MRI at Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler, TX after complaints of pain in his shins and back.  After reviewing the scan, his pediatrician told them to go to Children's Health in Dallas to meet an Oncologist.  The next few days were full of blood tests, scans and a bone marrow biopsy.  The inital result from the biopsy came back negative for Leukemia and we were relieved.  Then we found out his diagnosis was a very rare form of cancer...Neuroblastoma.  A tumor developed in his right adrenal gland and has spread to his lymph nodes, bones and bone marrow.  This type of cancer is extremely aggressive and has eaten away the marrow at his L1 vertibrae resulting in a portion of his spine being crushed.  In the last week, Conner has undergone several more scans, tests, an additional bone marrow biopsy, surgery to insert a port and began chemotherapy.  The surgery to remove the tumor, even if Chemo shrinks it, could result in losing his kidney.

**Update 9/25/2016**
On behalf of Conner, Nikki, Robert & the rest of our family, I can not thank everyone enough for the outpouring of love and support that has been shown.

In the last 4 weeks, Conner has battled an infection that hospitalized him (only days after being discharged to go home), successfully completed 2 rounds of chemo, received additional platelet and blood transfusions and started losing his hair. He decided to shave the rest of it off.

Conner will be back in Dallas on Thursday, 9/29 for a clinic visit and possibly, another platelet and blood transfusion to prepare him for a surgery on Friday to insert a central line. Saturday, his stem cells will be harvested from his bloodstream in a procedure known as apheresis. This is similar to donating blood, but instead of going into a collecting bag, the blood goes into a special machine that filters out the stem cells and returns the other parts of the blood back to the person’s body. The stem cells will be frozen until the transplant, which will likely be in January or February.



Please share Conner's story.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.  Conner's case could have EASILY been dismissed as "growing pains" or being an "active boy".  Early diagnosis is critical.  

Join Courage for Conner  on Facebook to follow his journey.