<div>Dear Friends and Family,
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<div>The King family is in a time of need as two of their adult children, Wyatt and Alicia, are both seriously ill.
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<div>Alicia is 20 years old and has been diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection in her lymph nodes called Mycobacterium Avium Complex, along with Rosai-Dorfman Disease, which occurs when the body produces too many histiocytes in the lymph nodes. She’s been experiencing unrelenting pain and fatigue, resulting in difficulty accomplishing everyday tasks, loss of her ‘normal’ social life, and needing to leave her job to focus on her health.
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<div>Wyatt is 18 years old and has been diagnosed with diffuse hemispheric high grade glioma, grade 4, with a h3g34 mutation, or in other words—brain cancer. He has quite the fight ahead of him and could use your help! Wyatt has limited function on the left side of his body due to his tumor. Currently from his elbow down and knee down, he has no control of these parts of his body, which makes everyday functioning difficult and extremely frustrating.
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<div>In addition to raising funds and support, this page will be informing everyone of the the kid’s healing journey. Despite the challenges they’re currently facing, Wyatt and Alicia have been incredibly strong and brave—true warriors! Our goal is to use the money raised for anything they may need to make their battles easier, along with everyday living expenses, as they are both unable to work. This includes but is not limited to: transportation to appointments, handicap modifications to their home, supplements and prescriptions, as well as any other future needs.
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<div>With these times, we understand if you are unable to contribute financially—we’re asking that you please donate your prayers. Wyatt and Alicia could certainly benefit from all positive thoughts and being kept in your daily prayers. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you! If you have any questions or suggestions, please call Greg King.
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<div>Wyatt would also like everyone to take a moment to be grateful for their healthy bodies and love their lives. Life can change in an instant. Treat each day life a gift.
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<div>Background Information On Wyatt’s Journey
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<div>A couple of months ago Wyatt started to loose the feeling in his left arm and hand. At first we thought it was a compressed or entrapped nerve or possibly the result of a tick bite he got at the end of summer. After a trip to the ER, a course of antibiotics and worsening symptoms Wyatt had an MRI done at Northern Lights Eastern Maine Medical Center. The imaging revealed a mass on his brain and he was admitted to the hospital.
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<div>On Sunday, November 19th, Wyatt was transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital via ambulance. Early Monday morning we were greeted by a group of neurologists who performed a series of clinical tests on Wyatt. The teams and the tests continued throughout the day, trying to figure out and decide which department was going to be the lead of his case. We met with the general pediatric team, neurology, neurosurgery, neuro-immunology, the inflammatory team, and infectious disease, as well as many nurses to get vitals, blood draws etc. At this point they were discussing infection, inflammation, types of bacteria (including what his sister is currently battling: M.A.C disease), cancer and multiple sclerosis.
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<div>On Wednesday, November 22nd, Wyatt had a biopsy of his brain, where several samples the size of a few grains of rice were collected and analyzed. He spent Thanksgiving recovering from surgery in the ICU and now has total bragging rights after having his brain cut into of being tougher than his older brother, Tyler.
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<div>On Friday, November 24th, an oncology team told us results will take 10-14 days. They explained the location of the lesion, is in the part of the brain called the thalamus—which correlated with Wyatt’s symptoms regarding his left sided weakness. Upon returning to Maine, we spent our ninth consecutive night in the hospital after Tyler got into a car accident driving Wyatt’s car. He was sore but okay—the car not so much. This meant all three kids had been in the hospital within a two week span, and no, they don’t offer a ‘buy two get one free’ deal in the emergency department.
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<div>On Tuesday, December 5th, a brief call from oncology gave us the news Wyatt’s mass was very consistent with a malignant brain tumor; specifically a high grade glioma. At this point we were skeptical this could be cancer as Wyatt’s sister, Alicia, had also been very sick for a few months and the first diagnosis she was given after a biopsy of her neck, was lymphoma. To us, it simply could not be a coincidence that both kids seemed to have cancer and we felt it was more likely to be some sort of infection. Seconds after the phone call, we joined in on a zoom call with two doctors who told us Wyatt’s case had gone before the tumor board and everyone agreed it was a tumor but they were waiting on pending genetic testing. They recommended radiation therapy to help control the tumor. Fearing devastating side effects and the toll radiation takes on the body, we began to research natural cures and protocols that supported the entire immune system.
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<div>On Thursday, December 28th, we traveled back to Boston Children’s for a post-op follow up with the neurosurgeon. An MRI was ordered because Wyatt was experiencing nausea and headaches. We hadn’t received any further information other than the tumor was a high grade glioma. During this visit we were told the tumor had a gene mutation seen in multiple specimens, by the name of h3k27m, which we were later informed was incorrect. We had an impromptu initial meeting with the oncologist and she gave us a copy of a very technical pathology report and told us the mutation is a h3g34r, which drives the tumor to grow.
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<div>On Wednesday, January 3rd, we drove back to Boston for an updated MRI of the brain which showed the tumor has grown. On the drive home Wyatt’s pain continued to increase and unfortunately became excruciating overnight. No pain reliever, ice pack, massage or anything we could think of would provide any sort of relief. After speaking with the oncologist she was worried the cancer may have spread into his spine and the decision was made to head back to Boston.
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<div>Wyatt was wheeled into the emergency room where they controlled his pain and did a spinal MRI, which thankfully came back clear! Once a bed became available, the next day, Wyatt was admitted to the 9th floor where he was taken care of by “his team” (Wyatt’s words). He met with OT and PT who are providing him with a cane, wheelchair, and special braces fitted to his hand and foot. Wyatt had a simulation for radiation done at Brigham and Women’s and is set to have his first radiation treatment Tuesday the 16th. He will continue M-F treatments over the next 6.5 weeks in conjunction with chemotherapy. Please continue praying and keeping Wyatt in your thoughts as you follow updates on his journey.
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<div>Background Information On Alicia’s Journey, In Her Own Words:
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<div>In July of 2023 I started to notice a hard lump forming on the left side of my neck, I also noticed that my throat was swelling up and my tonsils were quite large. When the lump wouldn’t go away I decided to make a trip into PCHC walk-in care, the doctor quickly felt my neck and told me that my Lymph nodes were swollen and that’s where the lump was coming from. He then looked into my ears and told me I had a severe inner ear infection that was causing the swelling, so he prescribed me amoxicillin.
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<div>After finishing the antibiotics, the swelling continued to get worse and I wasn’t feeling any better. I then decided to follow up with my primary care doctor in the beginning of September. At first she wasn’t too concerned, she tested me for strep, covid and mono, then she had the lab run some blood tests. Everything came back completely normal and from there I started having weekly appointments.
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<div>By the end of September, my doctor decided that some imaging was necessary and ordered an urgent ultrasound. I called my doctor multiple times to see what the results were but I didn’t hear back, so I went to the emergency room where they chose to do a CT scan. They found multiple swollen Lymph nodes and a growth on my salivary gland.
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<div>During this time I was also having problems with my stomach, I was nauseous and dry heaving everyday. I told my doctor about it and when she pressed on my stomach there was a sharp pain on my right side so she ordered another CT scan on my stomach and pelvic region. In the beginning of October the scan was done and I got a call telling me I had acute appendicitis and I needed to get to the hospital as soon as I could. Once I got to the hospital, a surgeon came in and told me that I actually had swollen Lymph nodes in my stomach and not appendicitis. This led them to believe I had Lymphoma, and they sent an urgent referral to the ENT specialists in Lewiston.
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<div>When I got down there, they put a camera up my nose, where they saw that everything was swollen in my nose and my throat. When they saw this they told me I had over a 90% chance that it was Lymphoma but they needed to do a biopsy to be sure. The biopsy was done two weeks later on November first and the results came back within a week.
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<div>According to the first results of the biopsy, I had Tuberculosis of the Lymph nodes. By the middle of November the biopsy had more time to develop and my diagnosis changed to Mycobacterium Avium Complex (MAC). When the results came back, my infectious disease doctor had me admitted to the hospital so she could start me on multiple antibiotics.
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<div>During this hospital stay I started to make amazing improvements; my pain had started to go away, the swelling went down a bunch and I could move again. That lasted for a few weeks until the pain and swelling came back and I ended up in the hospital again by the middle of December.
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<div>My doctors were concerned that my immune system wasn’t working properly, so they hooked me up to IV Immunoglobulins in hopes that it would jump start my immune system and give my body the help it needs to fight my MAC disease. This ended up not working, which made them realize it wasn’t an issue with my immune system. Luckily, the final pathology came back from my biopsy which told us I have two more diseases called Rosai Dorfman Disease and Histiocytic Neoplasm. Unfortunately, they’re both very rare and my doctors don’t have a lot of information. My next step will be meeting with an oncologist to find out what to do next on January 16th.
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<div>Thank you for taking the time to read about Wyatt and Alicia's journey!
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