Elijah's Family

On November 10, 2022, Elijah was taken to his pediatrician because he had bruising on his arms, legs, and torso. Elijah had also missed school all week, stating that he was sick. The pediatrician sent Elijah immediately to Children's Mercy KC. Elijah went through many tests and labs and discovered that he had T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Elijah was rushed up to the PICU, where he underwent a procedure called apheresis to remove the cancer cells that had overcrowded his blood.

Elijah spent six days inpatient at Children's Mercy on the Hematology/Oncology floor, receiving chemo and medications to help fight Leukemia. Elijah did very well during his stay and remained calm and positive during the most trying of times. Elijah is truly a resilient, brave young man.

Elijah's mom, Cassaundra, stayed with Elijah throughout his entire inpatient stay. Because our family of 7 is a one car/one-driver family, extra expenses were incurred to obtain the necessities for the family (Dad Timothy, Jonah-10, Nova-8, Moriah-5, and Lilliannah-18 months), as well as the costs incurred by Cassaundra while staying in KC with Elijah.

As a large family living in this economy, our family's finances were already a struggle. With Elijah's need for care through this intense treatment, Cassaundra has been away from work and at this point, has exhausted all annual and sick leave. Our family is in need of support to alleviate the financial stress and focus on supporting Elijah in his fight against Leukemia. We hope Cassaundra will return to work, at least part-time, at the end of Elijah's first phase of treatment, as long as Elijah tolerates the first phase of treatment well. While remaining hopeful, we do also recognize the reality of the possibilities of setbacks and complications that are impossible to plan for.

For info and updates on Elijah's Journey, please visit his page on CaringBridge:

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elijahottison