Help Save 2 Year Old Maverick

Hi, My name is Maverick. I’m 2 years old and I have been diagnosed with a rare disease called myelofibrosis which affects my bone marrow. Basically, scar tissue is forming where my bone marrow should be, resulting in my body not producing enough bone marrow for me to survive long term in addition to severe pain. I will need to have a bone marrow transplant and I really need help raising money for me and my family to help support us going through this rough time.

My story:

Prior to Thanksgiving of 2023, I was a happy, healthy, and thriving toddler. I enjoyed life on the farm with my brothers Mason (15) and Hunter (8); my parents Jennifer and Travis; and our animals. I was often into mischief, eating everything in sight, and always had a smile on my face!

On Thanksgiving, everyone thought that I was cutting some teeth because I was grumpy and wouldn’t eat. After a few days, my parents thought I caught a virus from visiting family. Then my parents took me to the doctor, who misdiagnosed me with a bowel impaction. After several unpleasant treatments, we realized that wasn’t the case.

Then we went back to the doctors where they started to run more tests and realized my red blood cell production and blood platelets weren’t where they needed to be and I had lost way too much weight. From that doctor’s appointment, I was sent to Mary Washington Hospital, who then transferred me within a few hours to Children’s Hospital in Washington DC.

Unfortunately, this was days before Christmas, so many of the doctors who needed to run tests were on vacation. So after 4 long days of pain management, lab work, and several consultations, I was sent home and told to schedule a follow-up appointment after the new year.

At my first follow-up appointment with the hematology doctor, I was sent back to Children’s Hospital where I had 2 bone marrow biopsies, x-rays, and a full body MRI. These tests revealed that I have fibrosis in my bones causing extreme pain and a lack of red blood cell and platelet production.

The doctors explained that this is extremely rare in kids (one in a million) and generally those who have it also have other genetic disorders like Down’s syndrome. Additionally, there is very little research to help direct my treatment plan or help predict what all of this will mean for my future. Now the doctors are running genetic testing on me to figure out what has happened in my body to result in this condition.

Over the course of three months, I now have to get blood and platelet transfusions regularly, I have a feeding tube in because I’m not eating much, and I have to take pain meds every two hours. The doctors are running bone marrow match tests on my family in hopes that we can schedule the bone marrow transplant ASAP. Once a match is found, I will have to have chemotherapy and possibly radiation to kill off all of my bone marrow and scar tissue in my bones in order to receive the transplant. It is likely that I will have to be away from my home and brothers for at least 6 months, maybe longer.

We are asking for help to cover expenses during this time of need in addition to prayers. My Dad has stopped working since he is the only person who brings me comfort right now and he won’t be able to work during my treatment.