Support Atlas's Fight Against Neuroblastoma

My name is Jacqueline. I am a single mother and the sole caretaker of my two beautiful children. On May 8th, 2025, my world completely shattered when my youngest, Atlas, was diagnosed with high-risk, unfavorable neuroblastoma. He is only three years old.

It started with lethargy, not eating and low-grade fevers that would come and go. Atlas wasn’t acting like himself. He was tired, quiet, and clinging to me in ways he never had before. At first, we thought it was just a virus. But deep down, I knew something wasn’t right. We went to the ER, I pushed for more testing. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

Eventually, they ran blood work and imaging. That was the day everything changed. Doctors found a large tumor in his abdomen and told me it was cancer. I felt like the air had been ripped out of the room. Atlas was rushed to Iowa City where they admitted us immediately and started a whirlwind of scans, biopsies, and surgery to place a central line.

The official diagnosis: stage 4, high-risk neuroblastoma. It had already spread to his bones and bone marrow. The words didn’t feel real. I held my baby as doctors explained that he would need 18 months of treatment: aggressive chemotherapy, surgery, stem cell transplants, radiation, and immunotherapy. The kind of plan no toddler should ever have to face.

A couple of days ago, we learned that Atlas has a specific genetic mutation called ALK. This mutation makes the cancer more aggressive and harder to treat. It also increases the chance of relapse, even after remission. Despite that, his oncologists remain hopeful that he will beat this. They are doing everything they can.

Atlas is now in the middle of intense chemotherapy. We travel to Iowa City multiple times a week for labs, overnight stays, and inpatient chemo. Sometimes he spikes fevers unexpectedly and we have to rush back to the hospital in the middle of the night. We live an hour and a half away. I am constantly packing bags, sleeping in hospital chairs, and watching monitors blink through the night.

He has lost weight. His face is pale. His eyes are tired. His once curly hair fell flat, and the light in him sometimes dims. But he is still the same brave, funny, tender little boy underneath it all. He makes nurses laugh.

I have had to step away from work to care for him full time. I am his nurse, his advocate, his source of comfort, and his only parent during all of this. I do everything I can to stay strong for him, but the weight of this battle is crushing. Financially, emotionally, and physically. We are constantly driving back and forth for treatments, sleeping in the hospital for days at a time, and trying to hold on to some sense of normal life for my daughter as well. She’s only 6. She’s doing her best to understand why her baby brother is always gone.

This GoFundMe is to help me stay afloat during the most difficult time of our lives. I am asking for help with travel, gas, hospital parking, food, bills, and the endless costs that come with being the full-time caregiver to a child with cancer. Every dollar goes directly to supporting Atlas’s care and keeping our family together while we fight for his life.

If you cannot donate, please share. Please say his name. Please pray for his healing. This journey is long, and we are only at the beginning, but I am holding on to hope. Atlas is the strongest person I’ve ever known, and he deserves every chance at a full and beautiful life.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping us carry this weight.

With love,

Jacqueline (Atlas’s mom)