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Childhood Cancer Awareness Month: Meet Isaiah

 

In the U.S. alone 16,000 kids under the age of 21 are diagnosed with cancer every year. A quarter of them will not survive the disease. A cancer diagnosis can change the lives of so many people, but when it is a child being diagnosed it affects everyone around them. Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September brings awareness to the different types of cancer that children are largely affected by and helps to raise the funds that are crucial for family support and survival rates. The goal is to encourage people to not only support finding a cure and helping families affected by childhood cancer during one month, and instead focus on helping these sick kids every day of the year.

Isaiah was one of the large number of children who visited the hospital because of a persistent fever, that later turned into his parent’s worst nightmare. Isaiah’s white and red blood cells, along with his platelets, were low. Isaiah was diagnosed with cancer on February 18, 2017 when he was just 3 years old. After further testing, doctors determined Isaiah had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After the diagnosis, he immediately received a blood transfusion and first chemotherapy treatment. For the next nine months, Isaiah received numerous spinal taps, hospitalizations, blood transfusions, weekly chemotherapy treatments and many different medications.

Although Isaiah is not considered cancer-free, there are currently no bad cells in the bone marrow and he is responding well to treatment. He will be in the maintenance phase of treatment for the next two years, still receiving oral chemotherapy, multiple medications and spinal taps. Isaiah has endured more than a child should ever have to experience. His family is thankful he is finally feeling better and also thankful for the staff at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

 

Written by Jenny Strozinsky