Just a few weeks ago, our world was flipped upside-down. My 13-year-old son, Zach (aka Ziggy), had been playing middle school football, having sudden and severe pains, and generally felt pretty tired. He had told me one day he felt like his friends just got hurt while playing, but he would feel worse as the night went on. He (as QB) took a lot of hits out on the field, so it seemed to make sense at the time that he was feeling a bit drained.

In late September, he started having low-grade fevers. After several doctor's visits from late September to mid-October (urgent care, ER, primary care, imaging, and many labs), they could only find slightly low hemoglobin and slightly elevated CRP (an inflammation marker). During a follow-up appointment on the 21st, his doctor ordered yet another X-ray, and Zach fainted in the middle of it.

Thank God he fainted when he did because that prompted an emergency referral to hematology/oncology. Two days later, on the 23rd of October, he was diagnosed with B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer.

We were shocked and devastated. My jaw was on the floor when they told us he wouldn't go back to school this year. That meant he wouldn't get to play basketball either, which he was looking forward to after growing 6 inches since last season.

But we finally had answers, and it started to make sense.

He had been feeling tired and not really up for much. He'd been having intermittent low-grade fevers for weeks with no explanation. His appetite became very poor, and he was dropping weight quickly.

That night, he was admitted to Masonic Children's Hospital. The next day, he had surgery to place a port and do a bone marrow biopsy plus lumbar puncture. The day after that was his first chemo treatment. This initial process moves fast. Treatment is estimated at two and a half years with many cycles of different chemo treatments. Due to his age, he is high risk (over age 10 is considered high risk), and from our understanding, that gets him some extra chemo. Depending on the cycle, there will be planned hospital stays, home injections and meds, lumbar punctures, blood and/or platelets infusions (this can happen at any appointment depending on lab work), and many many appointments. These first 6-9 months are very intense.

This is why we are reaching out to our friends, family, and community. Every donation, big or small, will help cover medical bills and related expenses. Any support allows us to focus on Zach and make sure he is getting what he needs. Even if you cannot donate, please share his story, send love his way, and keep him in your prayers!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

P.S. He does split time between his dad's house and mine, but we are both doing everything we can to support our son. Prior to Z's diagnosis, his dad, Justin, was unfortunately laid off from his job. Justin has MS and deals with his own health issues and appointments because of this. I will continue to work full-time at Life Time but I've cut back on hours to be there for Zach and accommodate his appointment schedule. We also have a 15-year-old daughter, Olive, who is being really great through all of this. I don't think I've ever heard either one of them tell the other one they love them so many times as I have since we found out Zach has leukemia. It's usually as a precursor to a negative like when Olive stated, "I love you but I'm not buzzing my hair off" but I'll take what I can get. It's heartwarming to know that Olive does not, in fact, hate her little brother. It may have taken cancer to make her change her tune, but deep down she loved him already.