Inspirational Stories

My son, AJ, was diagnosed with leukemia on 9/23/14 and from there on our life changed. AJ had bumps, turns and stops during his treatment but we were lucky to have found The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) about a year into his 3.25 year treatment protocol.

Our first event was a Light The Night (LTN) event 1 year, 1 month and 1 day from his diagnosis date. It was a special evening where AJ was able to see so many survivors and be surrounded by people who supported him. From there we participated in the Pennies for Patients program at his elementary school where we were filmed for the student series.

Our family thoroughly enjoyed all of these aspects of LLS but we were unaware of the storm that was brewing. AJ had been struggling with mental health issues, and we had reached out to our care team but were told to wait and see or that it was just him and not cancer related.

Once treatment ended we had to take matters into our own hands and find AJ the care he needed, we could no longer live in the wait and see world. We knew that cancer and it’s treatment had fundamentally changed our son and how he functions in the world. We have tirelessly worked to get him the mental health care he needs to move through his post cancer world.

In 2023 our oncologist finally handed over paperwork that confirmed what we had already known that AJ’s mental health struggles were late term effects from all the chemotherapy he received. It was a little consolation to my mother’s heart. With this in my mind I was worried when I was asked to attend a Dare to Dream Symposium in Chicago to represent New Jersey.

My son’s cancer journey had finished 7 years previous and mental health isn’t a top side effect in the cancer world. While I was there, I met the most amazing people who helped me see that my son’s story is their story. That any late term effects due to outdated chemotherapy and protocols are unacceptable. We need Dare to Dream Ambassadors to help bring stories like ours to the forefront and help the generation coming to not suffer like my son AJ did and does.