Elliott's cancer treatment after relapse

Update: We are increasing the goal of this GoFundMe to offer additional support for our friends Zeyno and Tyler, as their beloved four-year-old son, Elliott, restarts treatment for cancer after a relapse.

Elliott was initially diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma on September 8, 2021, just weeks before his second birthday. After a year and a half of treatment, they left the hospital in NYC in a joyous mood in December 2022 as Elliott rang the bell to mark the end of his neuroblastoma treatment. However, Elliott relapsed two months later. In March, he had brain surgery and started proton therapy shortly thereafter. He will now have seventeen additional cycles of chemotherapy every two weeks. Tyler, Zeyno, and Elliott moved to upstate New York for Zeyno’s new job last year and Tyler quit his job to become a full-time caretaker for Elliott. For the next year, they will travel to the New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital for Elliott’s treatment every two weeks, staying in NYC a week at a time. During the semester when Zeyno is teaching, Tyler will make the trips with Elliott alone.

This next year will be financially challenging since Tyler is unable to work while he cares for Elliott. We hope to raise funds to alleviate some of the financial stress of the treatment and the additional expenses of their travel and lodging in New York City. Please share this in your networks and thank you for your solidarity. As always, any small amount matters as we come together to care for each other.

Posted in 2021: Elliott was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma on September 8, 2021, just weeks before his second birthday. His parents and our dear friends, Zeyno and Tyler, noticed that he was having trouble walking, and when they took him to the pediatrician, they were advised to bring him to the hospital immediately. There, doctors identified bone loss and, within one week, diagnosed him with stage 4 cancer. Neuroblastoma is a rare form of cancerous tumor in the sympathetic nervous system that almost always occurs in children. We are shocked and saddened that Tyler and Zeyno, who recently lost both her parents to cancer, now have to contend with the grave illness of their son.

 

Elliott started chemotherapy on September 16, 2021 as the first stage of a two-year intense treatment plan that also includes surgery, radiation therapy, stem cells transplant, longer-term immunotherapy, and potentially a clinical trial study. Zeyno and Tyler are planning to move near the hospital as soon as possible. Zeyno’s precarious employment contract as an academic ended one week before Elliott’s hospitalization, and while she is looking for work, doctors have advised that at least one parent should not work for the next 18 months, to be able to give Elliott the hands-on care he needs. We are collecting funds to help them pay for rent, mounting medical and other expenses, and transport to and from the hospital.

 

Many of you have asked how you can help. Alleviating the additional financial stress they are facing will allow them to focus their care and attention on Elliott, as they begin what is undoubtedly one of the most difficult experiences any parent can have. Please share this fundraiser with others and donate as generously as you can.