Inspirational Stories

Aiden and his identical twin brother, Mason, were born perfectly healthy at 37 weeks. They were great babies and were rarely ever sick. They hit all their milestones on time and were thriving. When they were 2½ years old, I started looking into preschools in the area to begin their education. 

That all came to a screeching halt on December 12, 2016, when Aiden woke up from a nap with a 104-degree fever. We gave him Tylenol every four to six hours waiting for it to drop, but it never did. We took him to the doctor on Monday, and they said it was viral and to continue giving him Tylenol and Motrin to ease his fever. Two days later, he broke out in a rash all over his belly. I described it to the doctor as tiny, red pinpricks. She said that’s fantastic. After a fever, you get a rash, and he’s on his way to feeling better. This time the rash didn’t go away and continued to get worse. He stopped eating, and drinking, and had no energy. We brought him back to the hospital on Thursday at which point they looked at the rash and said that he had a very bad blood disorder and needed to get to the emergency room immediately. 

As soon as we got to the emergency room and saw the doctors, they diagnosed him instantly with either leukemia or aplastic anemia. Leukemia was the better of the two options because at least it could be cured. That night Aiden had a bone marrow biopsy done so they could find the leukemia as it was not seen in his blood. We were in the hospital for five days, and he continued to show signs of improvement, and we still had yet to receive the results. It had been determined that there was something abnormal. They believed it to be leukemia, but they were still not 100% sure. We went home to celebrate Christmas together as a family, and when we went back into the hospital, Aiden’s numbers were up, his energy level was great, and his leukemia could no longer be found. We followed up at the doctors for weekly checks, biweekly checks, and eventually monthly checks. It wasn’t until March 6, 2017, that the leukemia came back and was found in his blood. We were not sure whether we believed it because it wasn’t leukemia the first time, and it certainly was not going to be time. 

At this point, we went into the city for a second opinion where it was confirmed that Aiden did indeed have leukemia, and we needed to start chemo immediately. The day was April 10, 2017, when we drove Aiden into the city to begin the fight for his life. 

We did our best as a family to laugh our way through treatment, trying to find the humor in everything ― we were excited when he lost his hair because then we could finally tell the twins apart until Mason decided he wanted to shave his head also, Thankfully, we were able to laugh through treatment. Aiden did so well through his treatments ― 20+ spinal taps later, 10 months of intense treatment with chemo, followed by 2½ years of daily chemo pills. Aiden beat the disease. His port was removed, and he was in remission. 

Aiden and his twin brother, Mason, are now perfectly healthy 9½-year-old boys. They are doing great and are in 4th grade. They love playing basketball, lacrosse, football, and hockey. They enjoy spending time with their friends and love hanging out with their family. They say it takes a village, and we truly had a village supporting us the entire way