Team Nate- fight against leukemia

Mid to late January Nathan started getting out of bed every night and would come and knock on my door. At first he would say that he was having bad dreams and that he wanted to sleep with me. This progressed nightly until mid to late February when he was getting out of bed 5 to six times a night coming to knock on my door just to see me then turning back around and getting back into bed. Nathan had become extremely clingy wanting to be around me constantly. I thought it was just behavior changes associated with the new baby shortly arriving. Around the time he started baseball ( end of February) he started displaying other physical and socialchanges. Nathan had never been a big fan of baseball practice but never opposed to this extreme. Nathan cried every time he had to run saying his legs hurt. Every drill seemed as if he wasn't even trying. He would jog extra slow aRound the bases and eventually wouldn't even swing the bat. I was convinced that he was acting out by not doing things he didn't want to do and being pure lazy. The last 2-3 weeks before hospitalization Nathan wouldn't even walk to the car after school without sitting on the sidewalk half a block down and crying again saying his legs hurt and now his chest hurt as well. 1-2 weeks prior to this I had taken Nathan to his primary care doctor for a physical and the doctor said he was a perfectly normal 6year old and gave her approval for him to play baseball. But I continued to notice odd behavior in Nathan. He wouldn't go out side and play and used the excuse that it was boring and he didn't know what to play. He wouldn't pay attention to people when they talked to him. He would sit in line at school and wait for recess to be over and not play with any kids. He wouldn't walk in the store or help me with simple tasks without complaining. I had consulted in many people including other parents and teachers asking if they had noticed any change in Nathan and they said he seemed a little slow/mellow. On March 24th my mom took Nathan for a walk and he stopped every 5 min and cried that his legs hurt. She also noticed that his color was extremely pale and Told me to take him to the doctor. I told her i just had and the doctor said he was fine so instead I was going to take him to the ER to get him a full work up.In the ER the nurses took him in to be seen right away. The ER did lab work and noticed that his hemoglobin, platelets, and white blood cell count was extremely low (a normal childs hemoglobin is 14 or higher, Nathan's was 1.9) In a few short hours Nathan was transferred to Lucile Packard children's hospital by 9:30pm. We were given the news that Nathans blood counts were so low that they would need to keep him and run labs on him along with giving him his first blood transfusion. March 26th Nathan was still in The ICU and given 4more blood transfusions. March 27th nathan started the morning with 1 more blood transfusion and was given a bone marrow aspiration to see closely what was going on at the sight the cells are created. Hours later Nathan was diagnosed with Leukemia. Since, Nathan has started Chemo Therepy. He has been extremely brave throughout this entire process thus far. Nathan takes large amounts of medication daily, has a nurse come to our home twice a week, along with going back into the hospital twice a week. He is out of sports and out of school until he regains energy and isn't so harshly susceptible to colds and illnesses. Nathan will be undergoing treatment, at minimum, for the next three years. We are asking for your support with Nathan's battle against leukemia. All procedures and medications are not fully covered by his medical insurance. We found out in the first week alone that for one of his medications the insurance only covers enough to last him a week and the cost of this single medication for the rest of the months supply is $600.00 ($7200 for a year supply of a single medication). We would be forever greatful for your aid in support with Nathan's procedures, medication, tutoring, and whatever else my brave little boy may need. Please pray for the best possible outcome for Nathan and that his fight is as easy and painless as possible!


God bless