Ryu's Road to Recovery
Donation protected
Lil Ryu is a cancer fighter. Since 2015 he has been battling retinoblastoma, brain tumors, and cancer in the spine. He's a 5 year old boy that deserves a fighting chance at life. Ryu is one of the most charismatic boys you will meet. His smile lights up a room and he's too precious to not have on this earth. He has the heart to be an amazing person. He loves everyone, and wants nothing more than to grow up to be a fireman.
Please share our story and donate it would be much appreciated. Cancer is a disease that not only destroys you, but it'll destroy you financially as well.
We need all the help we can get as Ryu continues to fight.
UPDATE 2022: In the last few years, Ryu has been trying hard to recover from the intense treatment he received while fighting for his life during one of the worst moments of our lives. Understandably, it's hard to comprehend the piles of medical bills that come up that insurance doesn't even come close to covering. For our family, we weren't prepared for the cost of recovery. The therapy that he has to undergo in order to catch up to kids his age, not only physically, but mentally as well. As a mother, you often think about what your child will become when they're older. You wonder if you succeeded as a parent, watching your child blossom. I feel as if I failed my son, the minute he was diagnosed with cancer. I feel as if I failed my son because the cost of treatment, his hormone therapies, prosthetics, and his upcoming hearing aid along with a slew of other needs he has, I am struggling to keep up with. If you could please share his story, pray, and donate to his recovery that would be amazing. Thank you for always continuing to pray for us and keeping ryu in your thoughts. He loves every single one of you, and loves to read the comments and still looks at the cards that he received while in the hospital. To know Ryu is to know love.
UPDATE 2016: Since his first battle of cancer, Ryu was technically never in remission. Unfortunately after the scans came back clear of any signs of cancer, a few short months later we were crying because the cancer came back extremely aggressive. He is undergoing treatment as of now and will be for about a year. He won his first battle with the support of everyone that has prayed, shared and donated to our son's cause. A year later we find ourselves in the same situation. In my son's words "What the heck happened?" He was in the 1% to have metastatic retinoblastoma and he got it. The only thing we can say is to find a pediatrician that you trust and be your child's advocate.
Even with a grave prognosis, we have a small chance of success. My son will win his second battle with the support of all of you.
The money that has been raised has gone to his first battle with cancer. Medical expenses, prescriptions, transportation, food, etc... As you may know it's expensive to be sick. Anyway, we are almost at our halfway mark and we want to thank you for your help. Please help us raise money to alleviate the financial burden so that we can concentrate on our son instead of worrying about how to pay for his treatments.
God bless you, and thank you so much!
Last Year 2015:
Thank you for all the love and prayers that I have received for my 3 year old son, Ryu. He was diagnosed a couple of days ago with retinoblastoma which is a rare form of eye cancer. Unfortunately, the best option for him is enucleation of his left eye to remove the 3 tumors they discovered. The surgery was a success, however, the cancer did spread to his optic nerve leading to the brain. He will need to go through a painful lumbar puncture/spinal tap and a bone marrow biopsy next week to check if the cancer has spread to the cerebrospinal fluid or bone marrow . We are heartbroken but grateful for having the foremost world-renowned doctor in retinoblastoma so close to home.
Retinoblastoma mostly affects young children new born to 3 years of age and if detected early there's a good chance that the eye and vision can be salvaged.
We never really gave a second thought to the strange glint that would appear in some photographs taken with flash, but just shrugged it off as some lighting effect. Most of our pictures aren't ever taken with flash anyway, so we never had enough pictures to be aware of this consistency. Now we know that this could be a sign that something could be very wrong.
I want to raise awareness for retinoblastoma, so it can be caught in time. If you have young children, I urge you to start taking flash photos at various times and different angles. If you notice a fairly large white or yellow shining spot on your child's eye in a flash photo, please take him/her to a specialist to have it checked out.
Please send prayers for a speedy recovery and hope that the cancer has not spread any further for my little angel Ryu.
Any donation of any amount would be greatly appreciated and is needed to pay for his medical expenses and prosthetics for years to come.
Please share our story and donate it would be much appreciated. Cancer is a disease that not only destroys you, but it'll destroy you financially as well.
We need all the help we can get as Ryu continues to fight.
UPDATE 2022: In the last few years, Ryu has been trying hard to recover from the intense treatment he received while fighting for his life during one of the worst moments of our lives. Understandably, it's hard to comprehend the piles of medical bills that come up that insurance doesn't even come close to covering. For our family, we weren't prepared for the cost of recovery. The therapy that he has to undergo in order to catch up to kids his age, not only physically, but mentally as well. As a mother, you often think about what your child will become when they're older. You wonder if you succeeded as a parent, watching your child blossom. I feel as if I failed my son, the minute he was diagnosed with cancer. I feel as if I failed my son because the cost of treatment, his hormone therapies, prosthetics, and his upcoming hearing aid along with a slew of other needs he has, I am struggling to keep up with. If you could please share his story, pray, and donate to his recovery that would be amazing. Thank you for always continuing to pray for us and keeping ryu in your thoughts. He loves every single one of you, and loves to read the comments and still looks at the cards that he received while in the hospital. To know Ryu is to know love.
UPDATE 2016: Since his first battle of cancer, Ryu was technically never in remission. Unfortunately after the scans came back clear of any signs of cancer, a few short months later we were crying because the cancer came back extremely aggressive. He is undergoing treatment as of now and will be for about a year. He won his first battle with the support of everyone that has prayed, shared and donated to our son's cause. A year later we find ourselves in the same situation. In my son's words "What the heck happened?" He was in the 1% to have metastatic retinoblastoma and he got it. The only thing we can say is to find a pediatrician that you trust and be your child's advocate.
Even with a grave prognosis, we have a small chance of success. My son will win his second battle with the support of all of you.
The money that has been raised has gone to his first battle with cancer. Medical expenses, prescriptions, transportation, food, etc... As you may know it's expensive to be sick. Anyway, we are almost at our halfway mark and we want to thank you for your help. Please help us raise money to alleviate the financial burden so that we can concentrate on our son instead of worrying about how to pay for his treatments.
God bless you, and thank you so much!
Last Year 2015:
Thank you for all the love and prayers that I have received for my 3 year old son, Ryu. He was diagnosed a couple of days ago with retinoblastoma which is a rare form of eye cancer. Unfortunately, the best option for him is enucleation of his left eye to remove the 3 tumors they discovered. The surgery was a success, however, the cancer did spread to his optic nerve leading to the brain. He will need to go through a painful lumbar puncture/spinal tap and a bone marrow biopsy next week to check if the cancer has spread to the cerebrospinal fluid or bone marrow . We are heartbroken but grateful for having the foremost world-renowned doctor in retinoblastoma so close to home.
Retinoblastoma mostly affects young children new born to 3 years of age and if detected early there's a good chance that the eye and vision can be salvaged.
We never really gave a second thought to the strange glint that would appear in some photographs taken with flash, but just shrugged it off as some lighting effect. Most of our pictures aren't ever taken with flash anyway, so we never had enough pictures to be aware of this consistency. Now we know that this could be a sign that something could be very wrong.
I want to raise awareness for retinoblastoma, so it can be caught in time. If you have young children, I urge you to start taking flash photos at various times and different angles. If you notice a fairly large white or yellow shining spot on your child's eye in a flash photo, please take him/her to a specialist to have it checked out.
Please send prayers for a speedy recovery and hope that the cancer has not spread any further for my little angel Ryu.
Any donation of any amount would be greatly appreciated and is needed to pay for his medical expenses and prosthetics for years to come.
Organizer
Agatha Okumura
Organizer
Dumont, NJ
