Henry Vs. Leukemia

Hi there,

My name is Henry Raymond Debowski. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m in grade three and 8 years old – turning 9 in less than two weeks! I love playing soccer and am one of the best players on my team! It’s pretty cool I’m able to do what I do, as I had major back surgery two years ago where they put in two metal rods like Wolverine because of my scoliosis. Hockey is the ultimate sport though, Connor McDavid is so awesome and I really hope I get to meet him someday! 

My Mom’s name is Bristol, she’s my Mom and Dad actually and does a pretty darn good job at it; Corie and Marvin are my Grandma and Grandpa (we spend a lot of time together – they take me swimming, biking and play endless soccer with me); Sheri and Steve are my Grandma Sheri and Papa T, and then there is Auntie Sydney and Uncle Chris, they’re the silliest of them all. My family tells me I’m one of the kindest boys with the nicest manners and I do really well in school – oh and, I’m really good at soccer ha ha! I have a kitty named Rosie who I adore, I really love all animals though, I can’t even think of one I don’t like!

Also about me, I started not feeling so well about two weeks ago, first I started to lose my appetite (I’m not the best eater on the best of days to start with) but then I started not wanting to go outside and play with my friends because I felt really tired. A couple days later, I lost all of the color in my skin, Mom said I looked like a ghost so she took me into the walk in clinic thinking I was low on iron. The doctor sent me to the hospital for blood work because I looked so anemic.  That same day, my family and I got the worst imaginable news – I was diagnosed with Leukemia.

The very next day, I was ambulanced to the airport where they flew me to the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver (that part was pretty cool). I spent the next couple of days getting blood and platelet transfusions and doing all sorts of tests to find out what my treatment plan was going to be.  I will spend the next month getting blasted with chemo, I know I’m going to lose my hair pretty quick which really sucks, and then the next six months at the Ronald McDonald house so I can continue with more chemo at the hospital and they can keep a close eye on me. I guess this means I can’t go to school or play with my friends but I’m told I have A.L.L. Leukemia and fortunately the cancer did not spread to my nervous system and there is a higher survival rate because I’m a kid.

My Mom will be with me the whole time so I don’t have to be alone but we need your help. Mom can’t work while we’re here so we need help paying our bills like rent and whatever else adults have to pay for. Mom just finished school and started working at a new job, so we don’t have any savings yet so any amount you could give us would be really appreciated and help relieve some of my Mom’s worries. I know she wants to be able to take me to do fun things on my “good” days and buy me Lego on days I’m sick of being in the hospital.

Thank you for reading my story (feel free to share with others) and helping my family and me anyway you can.

Love Henry.