Inspirational Stories

In July of 2017, our world was turned upside down. Our son, Larry Paul (LP), was experiencing back pain and was extremely tired. After multiple trips to doctors and ER visits over seven days, he was taken down to UMMC in Baltimore and diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). After a 28-day battle of fighting ferociously, he passed away. When he was sent home from the hospital after 24 days, the doctors were convinced that he was going to beat this. The toxic chemo created a massive pulmonary embolism that went undetected. He was engaged to be married in October, less than two months from his passing. His fiancée lost the love of her life. When she was in the room, LP lit up. They were a match made in heaven. Larry was a son, brother, fiancé, friend, nephew, cousin, coach, mentor, and so much more. LP's best friend called me and said he was going to register for the Light The Night (LTN) walk and wanted to know if we wanted to join them. We answered with a resounding “yes.” To date, Team Hetzel has raised over $110,000 between Team Hetzel in London, Ontario, Canada, and Team Hetzel in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the families of one of his players on the volleyball team he coached started a scholarship in his name. We would love to see all blood cancers eradicated from this planet and wish that no family has to go through what we did. Before his passing, he was offered the opportunity to preserve his fertility. He agreed. A year after his passing, his fiancée, after a lot of prayer, counseling, and deep soul searching, asked us if we would allow her to go through fertility treatments in an attempt to have the child(ren) that they always dreamed of having. In July 2020, LP's first daughter was born. Wren, named after her dad, laWRENce, is a beautiful, smiling, happy child who lives each day to its fullest, just like her daddy. On August 31, 202,3 his second daughter, Juliet, was born. She came into this world nine weeks premature and today is a happy, healthy little girl who just turned one. We are blessed beyond words that our son lives on through his girls. We want all cancer survivors to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and hope for everyone.