love.4levi

Mr. Levi has always been a ball of energy. Nuclear, really. Always just doing…building, playing, wrestling the dogs, riding his quad or bike. Working out with mom and dad. Going to work with dad. Looking over the past year, I’m sure Heidie and I could count a hundred little flickers of something amiss that seemed like standard issue childhood aches and pains and sleepies at the time. But looking back over that time is a lot like rereading a story you already know the ending of. But we didn’t know. How could we know that Levi was under attack? He was our little guy, the ever present busy body and keeper of all questions. And then, in late November, he has a strange two day episode of abdominal pain. Appendicitis? Gas? Flu onset? Well, tums seemed to help, so, we tried to convince ourselves that it was just a little guy bug. Then, after a family Christmas trip to zoo lights, Levi’s wheels fell off. Fever, severe pain in the legs and back. Flu? Probably. Covid? Negative. We were at a loss. His fever and pain persisted for over a week, with breaks here and there, but he was tough, and wanted to eat and play, so, again, just a weird bug, right? But we know something was off. Something was missing. Then, days before Christmas at a regular checkup, his doctor, who is our hero by the way, discovered an abnormality in his abdomen that she was concerned by. She was going on vacation, but she wanted imaging done. Like, yesterday. So we waited to hear from the scheduling office. One day. Then two…Christmas day was when the other shoe started to drop. Levi’s fever spiked out of nowhere. It had been gone for days, and suddenly 103?! Okay we’re moving. We called in to the nurse advice line and told them the whole story. “Let’s get him in here and check some things out”. Absolutely. We’re there. We were soldiers in the ER trenches on Christmas Day for 8 hours. We came home with more questions and no answers. Then Levi’s doctor called and told us we had a room waiting at the hospital and to go ASAP. We did. CT revealed a mass in the abdomen. Suspected malignancy. Okay. Breathe.

Next day, a procedure for tissue biopsy revealed a tumor larger than a grapefruit in our little man’s bowel, and some malignant swelling in some lower lymph nodes. Mom, Dad, your son has Burkitts Lymphoma.

 

A week later....Leukemia… Test results came back positive for Cancer in his bones, so now it’s officially classified as Burkitts Leukemia. In Levi’s case, this basically means more intensive treatment and for a longer duration. We were told 4 rounds of chemo and treatments, now we’re looking at 6. We were told intense treatment, now it’s considered severe. Why the new name? I guess when it’s in the bones, it’s considered leukemia… why is so difficult to accept a new diagnosis? Maybe because we haven’t even had a chance to understand the first one! We knew the tests were to determine specifics… we were hoping, praying for a better outcome! What now? We take it in, we learn all we can, we stay positive and faithful with courage…

WE KEEP PRAYING!!!

This is where we’re at, so this is where we’ll be! One day at a time, one step at a time… Levi is so brave and such a light in all this darkness!

 

Levi will be receiving aggressive treatment until he wins this battle so if you would like to help financially: Nic and Heidie will be traveling to and from and temporarily living in Portland and missing work during Levi’s care. ANY amount is appreciated!!