In May 2025, our little warrior, Elijah, was finished with his treatment for Neuroblastoma and all his tests looked perfect. We did it! We beat this nasty disease…or so we thought!

In the first week of July, Elijah started to tell us his stomach hurt and his body was starting to ache, even when sleeping. We hoped these were long-term effects of his treatments or growing pains because he was getting taller. Luckily, we had 3 days worth of tests and scans the following week so we would get some answers. However, those answers were our worst nightmare. Within 2 months of being out of treatment, his tumor grew to over 3 inches wide and 3 inches long, and classified as rapid and aggressive growth. Elijah’s oncologist is wonderful and immediately worked on a plan to get us into the office and back into treatment to stop the growth of the tumor before it caused damage to any internal organs. While she worked as fast as she could, the tumor worked faster and it continued to grow, putting pressure on his back, liver and stomach, causing additional complications, which thankfully are on the mend now that the tumor is shrinking. That first stay in the hospital was for 2 weeks to start chemotherapy, get a handle on his pain, rebuild a nutrition plan, and to finalize treatment plans. For now, Elijah will be heading to Syracuse every 3-4 weeks for a week-long chemotherapy treatment to continue to shrink his tumor. These treatments won’t remove the tumor entirely, but will help his fight in the long run.

This relapse is bad news and our current cancer clinic/oncologist is unable to handle his care independently as there is no known standard approach to cure relapsed High-Risk Neuroblastoma. Upstate Golisano in Syracuse is a smaller clinic that doesn’t participate in many of the therapies and clinical trials Elijah will need to eradicate this disease. Our family will need to travel to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in Pennsylvania for Elijah to receive the care he needs. This facility has a special oncology unit and can create a specialized care plan based on Elijah’s medical needs. This is the best place for him.

At this time, neither Adam or I are working and putting 100% of our time and energy into our children. While we are getting Elijah medical care in Philadelphia, we will be trying to care for ourselves in PA (food, gas, personal items, lodging, etc) and our home in NY as well. This will place an exceptional burden on us financially and we are asking for any assistance you may be able to provide to help ease this burden and allow us to focus on Elijah’s care. We appreciate each member of our community, whether you are able to assist in this way or not, and thank you in advance. Please keep our family in your thoughts!

Love,

The Coffey Family

(Megan, Adam, Owen, Quinten, Elijah {Cancer Warrior})