Help Bennet Kick Leukemia's Ass

Anyone following my friends Darren, Chelsea and Bennet's story know that Bennet Bicigo is a tough, resilient little boy. Darren and Chelsea have been my close friends for years and Bennet is family to me. He and his sister Lilyan refer to me as “auntie Lars” and I keep a picture of him at my work computer.  

Bennet been in remission from cancer for about a year. Bennet fought and beat this rare liver cancer twice, last year receiving a liver transplant and undergoing his last, extensive round of treatment in both Wisconsin and Ohio. Being a recipient of an organ transplant and cancer survivor during a pandemic have been more than challenging, but Darren and Chelsea have enjoyed being able to see Bennet grow over the past year, play with his little sister, and just be a boy.

Bennet receives frequent, periodic testing to make sure that his remission levels remain healthy and that he doesn’t show any new warning signs of relapse or other health consequences from treatment.  After a few months of concerning blood-counts, they decided to have extensive testing performed to rule-out any other concerns. On Wednesday, August 18, Darren and Chelsea received devastating results from Bennet's bone marrow biopsy.  Bennet has developed a treatment-related leukemia.  The chemotherapy used to fight his previous cancer has caused a new cancer in his blood.  This is a risk for anyone undergoing chemo treatment, but it is rare.  The word rare holds no meaning to Darren and Chelsea anymore.

His doctors were just as shocked as they are.  The encouraging takeaways so far are that this was caught early.  It likely has been smoldering for the past few months while his body has been trying to fight it off.  Bennet is feeling well and really not showing any of the typical symptoms associated with this cancer.  The treatment of leukemia has come a long way, even in the last 5 years.  So we are hopeful Bennet will beat this.

Darren, Chelsea, Bennet and Lilyan have spent the last few days trying to have fun as a family: going to the zoo and rented a private pool that Bennet had a great time in.  Chelsea’s mom and dad came down to Madison yesterday and they had a bouncy house in the backyard, some pizza, and a cake.  Bennet also went on a toy shopping spree!

They head into the hospital tomorrow, August 24.  Bennet will have a central line placed again.  Treatment will likely start by August 26.  Darren and Chelsea are expecting that they will have a solid month-straight in the hospital.  The new chemo will suppress his immune system severely, so he will be at risk for infections.  A stem cell transplant is likely to be done at some point as well.   Total treatment is anticipated to last 4-6 months. They have a lot of questions that they are hoping to get answered over the next few days during these next doctors’ visits.

Darren and Chelsea are once again working out as much as they can with their employers, but it is certain they will both be missing a lot of time.  If you are able to support them, GoFundMe is the easiest and most convenient way to donate, as the donations can be automatically deposited into Bennet’s medical fund.  If you are able to support them and prefer to mail a donation, please reach out to me, Darren or Chelsea directly so we can get you their address.

To keep up with Bennet’s progress, feel free to follow The Bicigos Instagram page  created to include Bennet’s journey: https://www.instagram.com/lifeatthebeechs/

The above was all paraphrased based off of the post they shared with me, this part is directly from them:

“We have explained to Bennet what is going to happen.  It’s heartbreaking.  However, he is the strongest and bravest person we know.  He turns 5 on September 12th.  We are scared, but optimistic.  He WILL beat this too.  We appreciate and welcome all thoughts, prayers, and love that is sent his way.  We will post updates when we can.  Thank you for supporting us now and over the last 2 ½ years.  We love you.”

About six months after Bennet was born, Darren and Chelsea moved from Colorado to be closer to family as they started raising their first-born. After everything that’s happened to Bennet, I wonder if there were cosmic forces that helped bring them closer to family so they would be near when they received Bennet’s first cancer diagnosis. Still, it breaks my heart that they live so far away and this pandemic has kept us from being able to visit as often and has kept Bennet from being able to play as much with other kids his age.