After many visits with specialists, therapists, doctors and nurses we finally have some answers to the health of my 8 year old nephew, Isaiah. He has an extremely rare form of stage IV melanoma. You may be thinking of skin cancer as I was when I first heard the news, however this form of cancer has developed in his brain.

After flying across the country to see a specialist, we learned this form of melanoma is so rare they have never seen it in a child. Which makes treatment extremely difficult. The doctors were able to remove the first tumor found in the frontal lobe, but unfortunately the specialist pinpointed another spot within the eye. With this form of cancer being as rare as it is, the outcome is unknown. What is known is that it is highly aggressive. Similar cases within the adult population have a mere 1-year survival rate of 10–20% and the 5-year is almost nonexistent. Whether this is a worst or best case scenario is simply not known to us at this time.

Coming from a working class family this has impacted them in more ways than just monetary. Isaiah has a blended family with one sister, two step brothers and a half brother. His mother has missed several weeks of work for visits with various doctors and will likely need to stop work altogether for his treatments and appointments. His step father works six, sometimes seven days a week in order to help them manage financially. This is causing him to miss out on spending what little time with him he has.

The journey Isaiah has taken to even find this out has been long and arduous. Your help today will go towards Isaiah's medical bills and deposited in the Isaiah Eccles Charitable Account we have created for them. It will allow the family to spend time with Isaiah without having to choose between getting Isaiah the medical treatments he needs and how to feed and care for their other children. Even if you can't afford a small donation we greatly appreciate you sharing their story with your network. The more people we can reach the bigger impact we can make on their lives.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

#TeamIsaiah