Help Jude Recover From Leukemia

Help Jude Recover From Leukemia.

I am writing on behalf of Carolyn Byrne and her son Jude. If you have met Jude (6) then you are among a lucky group of people. Jude is smart, silly, charismatic and kind. He loves monster trucks and play dough, Hot Wheels and Legos, Paw Patrol, and especially his little brother Noah (2). Jude can sit for hours and play cars or read books and then roll down a grassy hill laughing so hard that he can barely climb back up to do it again. He loves with his whole heart and is one strong 6-year-old! When Jude started kindergarten this year, he also started having some trouble. He was tired, sad, his arms and legs hurt, and he was just not his usual self. After many trips to the doctor, he was admitted to the pediatric oncology unit at UNC Hospital on October 10th and was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Jude has already started receiving chemotherapy and treatment is expected to last 2-3 years, with the first 6-9 months being the most intensive. He will not be ready or able to return to school until next August.

Carolyn is one of the strongest mothers I have ever known. She is kind, thoughtful, compassionate, funny, caring and loyal. Most of all, she is brave and loves her boys with every part of her being. She is often the first to volunteer to help when it is needed - whether you are a friend, her family, a neighbor or a friend of a friend’s friend.

So… now Carolyn, Jude and Noah need our help.

Carolyn is fortunate as a single mother to have incredibly supportive parents, family members near and far, the best of friends and an entire neighborhood to back her up and support her. AND… Carolyn has been self-employed as a therapist in her own successful private practice for several years. Due to Jude’s illness and treatment needs, she will be taking a leave of absence from seeing clients and her business. Self-employed people work for difficult bosses and don’t have access to benefits like PTO, sick leave or FMLA so Carolyn and Jude need help with expenses – be that astronomical medical bills, insurance, monthly bills or day-to-day expenses. People have reached out to ask how they can help and a donation is a way to offer support that will be helpful both in the short and long term of Jude’s recovery from leukemia. Thank you in advance for helping in any way that you are able.