Please Help Nick Foster

“Helping Others is the Way We Help Ourselves”  

I am setting up this Go Fund Me page for my nephew/Godson, Nick.  The last couple weeks have been very rough for him and have changed his life forever.  He has been diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML).  This type of Leukemia typically occurs in adults so it rare that Nick who is 16 years old has developed it.  

Here is background on how he was diagnosed.  My brother and his family typically plan some kind of end of summer vacation just before school starts to make memories as a family.  They all look forward to this week and plan different destinations often.  This year they were taking a road trip to Tennessee.  Everyone piled into the car on Saturday August 29th and away they went.  Nick had complained a few days prior of some pain in his lower back/butt/side area and as most of us would have, they assumed it was sore from sitting too much or some kind of muscle strain so put some muscle rub on and went on.  Nick seemed to be better after a day or two so nothing else was thought about it.  While driving to Tennessee, Nick started to complain about that area again and seemed to be in pain so again they put the rub on and gave him some Tylenol.  They arrived in Tennessee and Nick was in a lot of pain and they noticed he had a large mass on his backside.  My brother rushed him to the nearest ER which was LeConte in Sevierville TN while my sister in law stayed with my other nephew at the hotel.  The hospital ran several tests and took blood and gave my brother the news that none of us ever want to hear.  They told him that Nick’s white blood cell count was 456,000 and his normal count should be 12,000 and that they think he has Leukemia.  This was devastating.  My brother and sister in law wanted Nick to be at Children’s Hospital so they transferred Nick to Children’s Hospital in Knoxville TN where they ran a series of more tests on Nick and pretty much confirmed that Nick has Leukemia.  Fear set in about how would they get home with a child that is really sick.  The hospital did not want to allow Nick to leave with how high his white blood cell count but his parents pushed to get him to be able to get to Milwaukee Children’s hospital and as close to home as possible.  There was no way that Nick could handle a drive home from Tennessee so they booked a flight for Nick and his mom to get home ASAP and then rushed to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee.  By the time they got there, Nick was in extreme pain because all the pain meds had worn off.  It took a couple hours for him to be admitted but finally he was in a room in the ICU where he would stay for 3 days.  He was poked and prodded so many times and had so many tests done including:  bone marrow sample (which is invasive), several x-rays and scans, PET scan, several covid tests, many pints of blood taken, platelet transfusion, biopsy of mass, removal of mass, CT scan, EKG along with several others.  He couldn’t eat for the first day and a 16-year-old growing young man needs to eat.  He suffered in pain while lying in bed with that mass on his backside and it actually made his whole side painful and his feet and toes tingle and go numb.  He didn’t walk for a week and a half.  Finally, the day came that he could go home but his journey is just beginning because he has to take chemo (GLEEVEC) orally every day for possibly the rest of his life.  He also is on another medication (chlorhexidine) to decrease the white blood cells.  These medications cost thousands of dollars PER MONTH out of pocket.  My sister in law will not be returning to work at this time as well so that she can be home with Nick to care for him and get him to his appointments several times a week to Children’s Hospital.  

So, I am trying to do what I can to help them out.  If I could take this disease from my sweet Nick, I would do it in a heartbeat but until that can happen, I will do what I can to help their family.  This is taking a toll on them physically, emotionally, spiritually and will definitely hit them hard financially.  If you have means to help them financially, it would be so much appreciated.  All money donated will go towards medical bills.  If you don’t, I totally understand and please just pray for their family.  That is all that I can ask of everyone.  Thank you all!  Please share this page!!  The more prayers, the better!!❤️ - Amy