Help Zachary Beat Leukemia Again

I am starting this GoFundMe for my son Zachary. Zach was a recent high school graduate last fall who was looking forward to going to college and starting a new, exciting chapter of life. A few short weeks into his freshman year of college he began to grow ever weaker to the point where he couldn’t get out of bed and was having trouble breathing. He made trips to the student health center and urgent care, only to be told he had a virus.

When he called me and told me he needed to go to the hospital because he was having trouble breathing I knew that something was very wrong. I didn’t know how wrong until I got to his dorm room and found him unable to get out of bed. I packed his things and drove him to the academic medical center nearest us because I felt he would likely be admitted. At 3am the next day, after many transfusions and a litany of procedures, we found out the devastating news that Zach had leukemia.

His journey had just begun……..

Zach was lucky to be transferred to a world-class children’s hospital where it was determined that he had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) - a rare and very aggressive cancer that usually targets elderly adults.

Zach battled valiantly and with a great spirit of positivity that he is “built different” and would beat AML. He endured 4 cycles of chemo, lost his hair, had some very rough spots, but made it through and into remission this past February. We celebrated and rejoiced!! He was on his way - recovering slowly and building back his strength. He was also on track to start college again this fall.

Life had other plans…..

A short 3 months into his 6 month recovery Zach started experiencing symptoms again. We nearly lost him.

This past June, Zach was diagnosed with relapsed AML. He now needs a bone marrow transplant and is currently in the middle of chemotherapy treatments. It has been a very tough road, and hard to digest the fact that he got through everything the first time after a 5 month stay….only to have it all taken away again!

Zach is dreaming of a cure and the life he hopes to be able to have after what will now be 9 more months of treatment and transplant.

We are trying to stay positive and pray every day for a cure! We are very fortunate to have such an amazing team taking care of him!

Zach can’t work during school, or on summer breaks like other young adults. He can only dream of what he hopes to be able to do and see. He needs some help to get there. Ultimately, he also plans to go back to college.

Please, PRAY for a cure and DONATE to help make his dreams come true!

With much love and gratitude,

Jill and Zach