Vinny Talerico's Cancer Fund (Vinnys Corner)

My best friend Chris Talerico of 30+ years and his wife Kira just found out on 3/26/21 that their oldest son Vinny was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). You can imagine how devastating this is. Vinnys battle to beat cancer has just begun. Vinny is 9 years old and such a wonderful kid who's world just got turned up side down. Vinny is at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital in Charleston SC and is expected to be there for the next 6+ months. I wanted to start this Go Fund Me Page to assist Chris and Kira with incidentals like parking, lunches, dinners, uber eats, gas cards and supplies. I spoke with Chris and Kira and this will also be used to purchase gifts for other children in the cancer ward. They also spoke about treating the doctors and nurses to donuts & coffee because they are so passionate about helping Vinny and all the other children in a similar situation. This fund will assist in so many good ways.

 

A message directly from Kira and Chris to family and friends on 3/28/21:

How we got here- I know this seems out of the blue. Trust me it was for us as well. 

This week Vinny was suffering from what we thought, and drs thought, was a nasty stomach virus but all he had was constant fevers which got higher by the day and stomach pain. Friday night he was so weak and his fevers were around 104 and no longer controlled by meds we thought, and good friends pushed, us to take him to children's emergency for dehydration. When we arrived he promptly passed out in the check in area. They rushed him back and ran MANY MANY tests very fast because of how weak he was and how high his fever was. That's when the ER drs saw that his white blood cell count was astronomically higher than it should be. They told me then, that they were almost positive he had leukemia and that's what the fevers and pain were from. Oncology drs confirmed the diagnosis around 2 am. He was admitted shortly after. They are still doing a lot of tests to get him ready for tomorrow. 

Tomorrow- In the morning he will undergo receiving a port for his chemo, a spinal tap and a bone marrow biopsy. Leukemia is a cancer of the blood (I am learning all of this now) and the abnormal cells are made in the bone marrow. Essentially his bone marrow is malfunctioning releasing high amounts of abnormal white cells. Dr friends, I am new to this and it is my general understanding so if I am wrong feel free to correct! 

Tomorrow will be a rough day. Tuesday Chemo will start and as soon as he gets the meds he will actually start feeling better. 

At the moment he is a very sick boy. He is on oxygen and his hemoglobin and platelets are very low. They may transfuse him before surgery tomorrow. 

Chemo will start and then he will be in the hospital for one month and then aloud to go home for 3-5 days. Then back for cycle two and so on for 6-7 months. The hope is that he is in remission after cycle one or two and then the rest is to make sure it is eradicated from his body. Specific prayers that it is in remission after the first or second cycles. If this doesn't happen worse case scenario is that he will need a bone marrow transplant but I've been told well cross that bridge if we need to. 

So that's where we are. Today has been lots of testing ultrasounds, x-rays and he will have an echo-cardiogram later today for his heart. He is finally on real pain meds and is much more comfortable although the high fevers still persist. Once the chemo starts it should curb the fevers. 

From here on, I will just post update, pictures and results as we go. There are a few therapy dogs here so that is right up his alley. He was able to see one today! 

You can get updates on his progress via Face book.  The name of the face book page is Vinnys A Rockstar along with this site. 

If you could support this Go Fund Me Page by making a donation and then sharing it with your network, I would greatly appreciate it. Please also continue to pray for Vinny. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.