River was diagnosed with an aggressive, fast growing blood cancer called Acute T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma on August 8, 2024. Our lives forever changed on that day, but little did we know that the cancer would not be be the hardest part of the journey.

River suffered a severe and rare chemotherapy complication in April 2025 called methotrexate toxicity. He lost his ability to move and even to speak. Watching your child slowly disappear in front of you is excruciating. While he has made an incredible recovery and makes strides all the time to regain the mechanics of his walk and run, the neurotoxicity still effects him to this day and he works weekly to regain what he once had.

Pediatric blood cancers and particularly River's type, have a really long treatment plan of 2 1/2 years. We started in 2024 and will not ring the bell until December of 2026. Every year, we have estimated around 25K in medical expenses. While we have private insurance with our employers, our monthly payments and max out of pocket is incredibly high. Those premiums were raised on us in 2025 and we found out that our 2025 premium is raising 30%!

It is never comfortable to ask for money, but we are always asked how to help and this is a way that makes a big difference in our lives. Not only does it help us with the enormous medical expense of cancer treatments, but also helps River and his brother maintain some normalcy and reduce the stress in our house so we can worry about River's recovery.