Support Porter's Fight Against Burkitt's Lymphoma

Porter’s Journey per his family -

On July 17th we got a pretty earth shattering diagnosis that Porter was found to have Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. There was a bit of limbo for a few days and then the final pathology came back that it was Burkitts lymphoma, which is a very aggressive (but very treatable) form of non hodgkins. The growth rate of this type doubles rapidly every 48 hours so we were admitted to nemours to begin treatment on Wednesday. Since then Porter has had another surgery to remove and biopsy his lymph node, and has been on IV fluids and meds. Our plan as of right now with his wonderful oncology team is another surgery again Monday afternoon that will include placing a port for chemo, a bilateral bone marrow biopsy, and a lumbar puncture. This will help us determine where or if the cancer has spread to other areas and narrow down the treatment he will need. Because this type is so aggressive we will be beginning chemo right after that combo surgery and will be admitted here throughout his first treatment.

Update as of 07/30/24 -

As of today the diagnosis is still Burkitt’s lymphoma (we had a lot more testing to rule out burkitts leukemia but so far the tests are coming back positive that what we are seeing is lymphoma.)

Again, this is a super aggressive type of lymphoma. It doubles in production every 48 hours so even though he can’t get in for a baseline PET scan until this Saturday the doctors are wanting to begin some really strong treatment immediately.

Tomorrow Porter will officially begin chemo, this starts as an intrathecal (injected directly until his spinal cord under anesthesia) chemo followed by an oral dose after the procedure when he’s awake and a butt ton of steroids. This first bit will be a seven day treatment period where he continues to start here in the hospital at Nemours, and then we begin his second round immediately after of a combo of three more aggressive chemo meds and steroids. This will all be inpatient because of the strength of this chemo so we’re looking to be admitted here for at least the next 20 days.

Porter is such a sweet, loving, smart, & strong little boy. He has such an amazing village by his side fighting along beside him. Anything you can do to help keep his spirits high, help support his family while they give their all to him and his fight, etc., would be extremely appreciated.

A PO Box will be shared soon for anyone who would like to mail cards, drawings, etc.

Porter Strong