Miles' fight against neuroblastoma
Donation protected
On May 24th, just 8 days after his 3rd birthday we took Miles in for a routine physical and several hours later were told he had cancer. On May 31st Miles was diagnosed with High Risk Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. Walking him into an oncology unit was one of the most surreal moments of our lives.
Miles will have 7 rounds of chemotherapy and two bone marrow transplants as well as surgery, radiation and immunotherapy. Our son will be receiving all of his medical care in Jacksonville, Florida at Wolfson Children's Hospital.
We live in Tallahassee, Florida and will be commuting to and from Jacksonville almost weekly. If Miles gets a fever at any time in the next year, we have to drop everything and drive to Jacksonville. Our gas and vehicle maintenance costs alone will be astronomical.
We moved in with family when Miles was diagnosed so that we could be in a home with less air pollution and aunts and uncles to play with, but ultimately, the less people living in a home with Miles, the less likely he is to get sick. We are working with a local organization to buy a home but will need a down payment. We live in a college town so rent costs are high and anything we could afford is either contracted before we can get to it or is located in an unsafe area. Buying a home will be our safest and least expensive bet, but we are planning on waiting until Miles completes treatment in June to start that process.
Our goal in creating this page is to raise the funds necessary to give Miles the safe and healthy place he needs to fight and recover from this rare cancer. We also need to raise money for food and transport, as well as to supplement loss of income. Morgan (Miles' mom) will have a long list of daily and weekly procedures for Miles, including the flushing of his central line, immunity injections, oral medications and specific cleaning procedures to make sure that he is safe while his immunity is low. Insurance is also an issue- we are currently fighting with Medicaid just to get access to the prescriptions he needs- one of which is 6k out of pocket.
Matt is working through all of this. Our family is literally torn apart- but we just can’t afford for him to take a medical leave.
We greatly appreciate all the support and we ask that you keep our son in your thoughts.
Miles will have 7 rounds of chemotherapy and two bone marrow transplants as well as surgery, radiation and immunotherapy. Our son will be receiving all of his medical care in Jacksonville, Florida at Wolfson Children's Hospital.
We live in Tallahassee, Florida and will be commuting to and from Jacksonville almost weekly. If Miles gets a fever at any time in the next year, we have to drop everything and drive to Jacksonville. Our gas and vehicle maintenance costs alone will be astronomical.
We moved in with family when Miles was diagnosed so that we could be in a home with less air pollution and aunts and uncles to play with, but ultimately, the less people living in a home with Miles, the less likely he is to get sick. We are working with a local organization to buy a home but will need a down payment. We live in a college town so rent costs are high and anything we could afford is either contracted before we can get to it or is located in an unsafe area. Buying a home will be our safest and least expensive bet, but we are planning on waiting until Miles completes treatment in June to start that process.
Our goal in creating this page is to raise the funds necessary to give Miles the safe and healthy place he needs to fight and recover from this rare cancer. We also need to raise money for food and transport, as well as to supplement loss of income. Morgan (Miles' mom) will have a long list of daily and weekly procedures for Miles, including the flushing of his central line, immunity injections, oral medications and specific cleaning procedures to make sure that he is safe while his immunity is low. Insurance is also an issue- we are currently fighting with Medicaid just to get access to the prescriptions he needs- one of which is 6k out of pocket.
Matt is working through all of this. Our family is literally torn apart- but we just can’t afford for him to take a medical leave.
We greatly appreciate all the support and we ask that you keep our son in your thoughts.
Organizer
Matt Shanaghan
Organizer
Tallahassee, FL
