John

Our lives were forever changed that day as we were thrust into a world where our child had cancer. A cancer we had never heard of before… stage IV, high risk neuroblastoma.

Near the end of his first hockey season during the later winter of 2012, our five ½ year old son John came down with a low grade fever that wouldn’t go away. Along with the fever came night sweats, terrible drenching his pajamas and bedding, night sweats. A trip to the doctor confirmed that John had strep. He seemed to improve during the course of the antibiotics, but then complaints of leg pain would come and go. Back to the doctor we went and strep was confirmed for the second time. Now along with the low-grade fevers, terrible night sweats and leg pain, came the loss of appetite. Our concerns grew as this just didn’t “feel” like strep and we was calling the doctor every few days expressing our concerns. John’s leg pain had been becoming more regular and now he was also mentioning back pain.

It was decided that John would be rechecked again for strep after the 10 day course of antibiotics and if it came back negative he would need to go to a specialist. It came back negative and our hearts sank. Two days later John had an appointment at Children’s Hospital Minneapolis Cancer and Blood disorders clinic.
It was decided that John would be rechecked again for strep after the 10 day course of antibiotics and if it came back negative he would need to go to a specialist. It came back negative and our hearts sank. Two days later John had an appointment at Children’s Hospital Minneapolis Cancer and Blood disorders clinic.

The morning of the appointment John had so much pain in his leg he wouldn’t walk on it. His dad watched him as he crawled to the bathroom for his shower. At that moment we realized John was a very sick little boy and the thoughts of all the possibilities of why was terrifying.

Our lives were forever changed that day as we were thrust into a world where our child had cancer. A cancer we had never heard of before… stage IV, high risk neuroblastoma. We would soon learn what a horrible cancer it was. John had a tumor above his left adrenal gland, cancer in his legs, shoulders and skull. His bone marrow was over 90% impacted with Neuroblastoma cells. The reality of the situation was nothing less than horrific.

Things moved quickly once John was diagnosed. The next day he had his Hickman line placed, the following day he received his first chemo treatment. Our lives no longer revolved around our sons’ hockey schedules, but rather John’s treatment schedule and ridding his little body of the horrible cancer.