Support Memphis's Battle Against Hepatoblastoma

Memphis was born at 28 weeks weighing 1 lb 2 oz. He spent a hard, scary year in the NICU where he underwent a jaw distraction surgery and large hernia repair and suffered several broken bones due to nutrition issues in the womb. He went home on oxygen and a GJ feeding tube. When he came home, we finally thought we were going to be able to start our lives as a family of 5 and enjoy our time away from the hospital.

At home, he did well but seemed to be losing weight at a rate that became worrisome. I made an appointment with the GI doctor, who was also a liver specialist, and mentioned to her that he was losing weight and that I thought it was abnormal that where his liver was protruded more than the other side. She assured me that he was just small due to his genetic disorder and that it was just his liver. I allowed that to semi-satisfy my worries as he had so many other issues still going on.

In May of 2024, during a hospital stay for a stomach virus and pneumonia, they did a CT scan to check on his pulmonary hypertension and happened to see a large mass on his liver. Something I never thought would happen to us happened: the doctors came in and told me Memphis had a large tumor and 2 smaller tumors on his liver and needed a biopsy. After SEVERAL long days waiting after the biopsy, we were told Memphis had stage 3 Hepatoblastoma and would need to start chemo ASAP. Our lives were turned upside down. He spent over a month at the hospital afterward due to getting kicked off of state health insurance and no longer qualified due to being over the income limit in our state. We decided to pay out of pocket to make sure he had health insurance to get him through this cancer.

In August, they sent us to Kansas City, Missouri, to have a liver resection that they were sure would be able to remove all of the tumors, and we finally had hope that this was almost over. The resection went well, but while in the PICU, they found out he had COVID, so they held off on chemo for a couple of weeks. He recovered from the COVID, and we were still trying to figure out some other issues he had, like his electrolytes being thrown off and some fluid buildup in his abdomen from the surgery. They decided to do an ultrasound to check the fluid levels, and right before we were getting ready to go home after over a month, they found that it looked like he had more masses on the small amount of liver he had left. The realization hit that it wasn't over and the cancer had come back. He had 6 small new tumors spread all over the small 25% of his liver he had left, and we were crushed. They started him on an AGGRESSIVE chemo regime including Carboplatin, Doxorubicin, and Etoposide and started the review process to get him on the transplant list.

Last month, they finally let us know that he was placed on the transplant list, and we are now waiting for a new liver. We will have to spend over a month in Kansas City after the surgery so they can get him through the worst of the possible rejection issues. We are already trying our best to keep up with medical bills, gas, food, home bills, and taking care of our other two children's needs. We don't meet the requirements for most state and federal help, and we are trying our best but struggling. We aren't the type of people that like to ask for help, but we need it. We are young parents who never thought that this would be our life, but here we are, and we are just trying to stay as strong as our little boy is and fight to get him through this. Thank you so much for taking the time to read Memphis's story. He will get through this; he is the strongest little boy I know.

UPDATE! Memphis was moved to Cincinnati ohio due to the transplant program at Kansas city having to be put on pause because they lost their surgeon, we are now even FURTHER from home, 13 hours to be exact and we are trying to make flights work for my husband to be able to be here on week off. (He works 2 weeks on 1 week off). We are currently going through Cincinnati children's evaluations to have him placed on the transplant list here. It's been very hard on our family and I only hope after he gets a new liver things will finally get easier. Thank you for all the continued support and love we have received. It truly means the world