Help Keane Rhodes Beat Acute T-Cell Leukemia

We have started a campaign to help our local hero, 13 year old Keane Rhodes, in his fight against Acute T-Cell Leukemia.

These are the words of his father, Kent:

Keane was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on Jan 1st, 2024. He has been doing intense chemo ever since. His last hospitalization, in May, they found a very large Subdural hematoma. He has had two brain surgeries to relieve pressure and remove the infected tissue by removing part of his skull and cleaning it out, then reattach the skull with titanium screws.

After surgery, we felt like we lost a big piece of our son. He would stare off into the distance and not look at you. He couldn't talk. All he could do was cry. He had partial seizures. Those 3-4 days were the hardest days of our lives. Over the next several days, his eyes became more focused on us, and he began to recognize us. He started making sounds with his mouth, although he would get very frustrated that his mouth wouldn't make the sound his brain wanted it to. He has had to re-learn how to speak and walk, and for several days, he had no use in his right arm. He has slowly been gaining function back, and he is doing phenomenal. His speech is way better, and memory is coming around. He has a very long road ahead for recovery, but he has a great attitude, and he is kicking so much ass. I couldn't be more proud of someone. I tell him all the time that he is the best kid in the

world.

Keane loves the color powder blue. Our friends made some shirts for him for Team Keane, which are powder blue and red. You can see them on the Team Keane facebook page.

One of my best friends, Brandon, is/has been one of Keane's coaches for football and baseball forever and he told a story about how when we played flag football, Keane was our running back, and Keane liked to run left and right and not always upfield lol. So he would have to tell Keane over and over, sometimes yelling, "UPFIELD!" Until Keane got it one day, and he started making sure he put one foot in front of the other and always moved up the field, not side ways.

So, now our saying for beating this cancer is Upfield. You will see that saying all over the Teame Keane facebook page.

Keane's favorite things are baseball and football. He played flag football for 6-7 years, then he played 7th grade football and loved it. The coaches started calling him Honeybadger because he was small but loved to hit.

Keane's favorite sport is baseball. He has played several years on select baseball teams. He is a phenomenal little baseball player. He likes playing catcher the most, but he can play anywhere.

His other two passions are hunting and fishing. Even when he was little bitty he would stand by the water and cast over and over and over to try to catch fish, even with his buddies playing/swimming in the water or whatever, he just loves it. We go deer hunting every year with my buddy, and every year, he has gotten more and more confident with a rifle. Last year, he shot several deer with no help from me.

Other interests are video games. He likes playing with his buddies, and he never owned a gaming system before cancer. Families from his football team bought him an Xbox as soon as we got home from hospital so he could stay in communication with his buddies through treatment. It's been nice to get to hear him laugh with his buddies on xbox, though.

And like you and I talked, he does love some Texas Country music! He asks for that every time we go in the MRI machine for scans. He likes Shane Smith, obviously, but he also likes Flatland, Zach Bryan, and Koe Wetzel a bunch.

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We will be hosting an event on Sunday August 4th at Billy’s Ice to raise funds to help with medical expenses for the family in New Braunfels, Texas. It will feature live music from 1-10 pm, a silent and live auction, and multiple donation stations.

Every little bit helps and we are all going to help Keane get Upfield! And beat cancer!

Keane and his family are from Universal City, Texas