As many of you know, my brother Stephen has been rediagnosed with ALL Leukemia after a decade of being cancer-free. As you can imagine, this came as a sudden surprise to our family. Who would've thought that he would be fighting again at the age of 24?

What started off as him getting blood work drawn by his PCP and the results coming back that he was neutropenic, putting him at risk for infection, led them to schedule a bone marrow biopsy that was supposed to be on January 2nd.

During this time, the family had noticed drastic changes in him, from sudden weight loss to loss of appetite, passing out, and being more tired than usual. We knew something was wrong.

On December 29th, he started to have a fever and, per his PCP, he went to Traverse City Hospital since they have a hematology inpatient unit. Due to being neutropenic, having a fever is life-threatening. When he arrived in Traverse, they admitted him after finding out the source of the fever was Influenza A. Due to his white blood count being low and now having Influenza, his body wouldn't be able to fight that alone. Thankfully, when he was admitted, the doctors came to the conclusion that he would be better off going to Grand Rapids Hospital so he could get his bone marrow biopsy done with the results being read by the next day instead of having them done in Traverse and waiting up to two weeks for the results to come back. Once a bed opened up in Grand Rapids, he was transferred from Traverse to Grand Rapids. While at Grand Rapids, they were able to get his bone marrow test done and within the next day, the results were back. We were all hoping that all these issues were due to the Influenza, but unfortunately, the doctor came in with other news. He let us know that Leukemia was back after a decade of being cancer-free. My brother, the kind, caring, compassionate, funny, God's child, hardworking, and strong young man, has to fight for his life again! But this time, as an adult! Even though he's 24 years old, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital accepted him back with open arms due to his leukemia being a relapse from his childhood leukemia. The regimen would be treated the same with the exception of the new treatment that they have come out with since the last time he was diagnosed. This was great news and gave us some hope... even better, he was able to get the same doctor that he had when he first had to fight this fight! As he still waits in the hospital, biting at the bit to get out, bills still keep coming and hospital bills start adding up. Even with insurance, there's only so much it will cover. With that being said, I created this in hopes that I could take a burden off of his chest as he has his plate already filled! As he'll be out of work until further notice. Even when he is able to get the clear to work, he'll still have days where he'll miss during appointments and days when he's not feeling well. The treatment plan so far will be for 2-2 1/2 years. I would like to create this page in hopes to take some of the burden off his shoulders, clear his plate, and help with the expenses of bills, food, traveling expenses, and all the other day-to-day needs we all experience. He has to survive day-to-day in this world to have the energy to fight! I know that he has a strong army behind him that lets him know daily that he's not alone! Now is our time to help him out as he has done for so many others.