What started out as a normal Christmas Eve ended up being one of parent’s worst nightmares for AJ and Bailey, parents of Griffin. They received news no parent should ever hear.

Griffin is a loving, silly, strong, resilient, energetic 3 year old little boy. He has never been one to sit still. He loves adventures, Monster trucks, trains, Spiderman, being outside, airplanes, dancing, reading, learning, taking care of others, and so much more.

Leading up to Christmas Eve, Griffin had a virus. After multiple days of not eating, Bailey called his pediatrician so they could make sure there’s nothing more they could do for him. During the appointment his pediatrician did an exam, and ordered an X-Ray without saying anything yet. An hour after the imaging came back AJ and Bailey received a call telling them to go to the ER immediately because a mass was found in Griffin’s abdomen.

In the ER on Christmas Eve night, they ultimately learned their 3 year old had cancer. They also learned it had metastasized, and that he had a blood clot in a major artery. An otherwise healthy boy whom just had a virus, now had cancer and was being admitted. They were admitted to the Oncology floor at Dayton Children’s Christmas Eve night, and after labs, imaging, and fluids, they were discharged late Christmas Day.

They were, and still are, in shock. After many phone calls, scans and blood work, and a trip to Columbus Children’s for a PET scan, we have learned he has Stage 5 Bilateral Wilms. He has an enormous tumor on his left Kidney, a blood clot in his IVC, a couple tumors on his right kidney, and metastasis in his lungs.

His Oncologist came up with a plan and we got going. We were told he will need a port, weekly IV chemo, resection surgery/surgeries, and radiation.

He was scheduled for a port placement on January 2nd. After the placement he was to receive his first chemo treatment. We were reassured that morning that this is a common procedure and although there are risks, they’re rare. Unfortunately one of those rare risks occurred during his surgery.

The guide wire used to guide the port tubing went through his subclavian vein instead of following the path of the vein, and resulted in significant blood loss into his lung cavity. The surgeon and his team took quick action, opened his chest to figure out exactly where the bleeding was, and thankfully stopped it. His little body went into shock. The port was not able to be placed.

Seeing the surgeon after the surgery is an image they will never forget. His first words were “well that didn’t go as planned” and they knew something went wrong. He explained what happened, and that Griffin will need to be on a ventilator in the PICU.

The 30 minute wait after being told the news felt like a lifetime because they just wanted to see their baby. When they were called back into his hospital room they were in shock. Their baby had a breathing tube, was sedated, was ice cold from the OR so he was bundled up in blankets, he was hooked up to many machines, had a chest tube, Foley catheter, and he had an enormous incision from his armpit all the way across his left chest.

The days in the NICU were hard. He ended up needing an NG tube placed as well. He would wake up here and there and reach for his mom. He couldn’t talk but he would mouth that he was in pain and he wanted to be held by his mommy. Around 2am on the 4th he woke up enough to kick his leg and ended up pulling out both his breathing and NG tube. Nurses, doctors, and respiratory therapists came rushing in to try to intubate him again if it was needed. Thankfully he began breathing on his own.

The morning of the 5th they were able to give him his first round of chemo through a central line IV that was placed in his neck. That evening he was transferred from the PICU to the Oncology floor.

The surgery team successfully placed his port on the 7th. They were released on the 8th. They stayed 7 days in the hospital in total.

We cannot express the toll this has taken on them. Watching their child be in immense pain and not being able to stop it is unfathomable. There is too much that has happened to possibly put it into words what they have gone through. Unfortunately, this is just an outline version.

They are now home, but the last two and a half weeks have been incredibly difficult for them. Both AJ and Bailey have had to be out of work since December 24th. The trauma they have all endured is something no one should have to go through. They will be missing more work in the future for appointments, treatments, etc.

His next chemo treatment will be the 12th.

As the medical bills roll in for his stays, tests, medications, etc., the stress has increased. We wanted to try to relieve them of financial burden so they have one less things to worry about.

Griffin’s Oncology team has no doubt he will beat this, but he will have to endure a lot in the coming months. They have already went through a lifetime of stress in just 2.5 weeks. Griffin is a fighter and the doctors and surgeons have made sure we know that. Anything donated helps. They are grateful for the help and support.

Bailey has been updating on her Facebook so feel free to see more about Griffin there!