Jeremiah’s Road to Recovery
On February 2020, our best friend’s world was turned upside down, when her first born son, Jeremiah, was diagnosed with High Risk Neuroblastoma Type M. This was such a shock to all of us.
Jeremiah’s hardships began in November 2019, when he started limping and complaining about hip pain, to eventually refusing to walk due to the pain and also having high fevers. After numerous visits to the pediatrician, stays at the ER, and multiple testing, they were still left without answers other than that he was anemic, for which he received a blood transfusion and was sent home. He was then referred to hematology/oncology where they performed additional tests focusing on the hip area since it was a limping issue. ( X-rays, CT Scan, MRI, bone marrow biopsy, and blood work) yet still nothing was found. Jeremiah continued to express he was in pain and started limping again so his parents decided to take him to John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL. They stayed for four days, while they performed numerous testing on Jeremiah, which led them to believe what he had was CRMO ( Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis) an inflammatory bone condition.
Golisano and John Hopkins Children Hospitals continued working together to figure out what was going on with Jeremiah, and eventually they ordered a full body scan to see if they were missing something. At this point he began to get bruising around his eyes (a known sign and symptom of neuroblastoma), and they ordered additional urine tests which led to his final diagnosis.
Neuroblastoma is a very rare cancer that occurs most often in infants and young children. The term neuro refers to nerves, while blastoma refers to a cancer that affects immature or developing cells. In Jeremiah’s case it has metastasized throughout the whole body- legs, hips, spine, shoulders and cranium. There is no tumor, just cancer all over his little bones.
Jeremiah just turned four on 03/25/2020 and he has a very long treatment plan ahead. His first cycle of chemotherapy at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Ft. Myers, Fl, just began on 03/09/2020. It has a duration of 3 weeks, in which he will be staying in the hospital for treatment then discharged home and returning weekly for continuous treatment. He just completed the second round of his first cycle last week. So far it is predicted he will need a total of five cycles.
In the upcoming months he will also go in for bone marrow harvesting at Niklaus Children Hospital in Miami, FL, and then MIBG Therapy at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Ma, followed by more chemotherapy, then bone marrow transplants back in Miami, Fl and more. According to doctors 18 months total if everything goes as "planned".
We are asking you to join us in helping this family through these difficult times as Jeremiah’s mother Daniela, is currently on unpaid maternity leave from her job and will most likely not be able to return due to Jeremiah’s treatments. Her mother, Jeremiah’s grandmother, Liliana who has been by their side through all of the treatments, has missed a lot of work and is currently waiting for her also unpaid FMLA to be approved. Jerald(Jeremiah’s Father) and Daniela also purchased their first home at the end of last year, and although they aren’t asking for help, we know it will be needed soon, as Jerald has also missed work and will continue to miss a lot of work because of this.
The funds received will help pay for Jeremiah’s medical care as well as allow his family to be with him during the treatment. They will need to pay for all of the travel accommodations when they go to Boston and Miami for treatments, and due to the current Covid19 situation, Jayla, their four month old babygirl cannot stay at the hospital with them so they will need a hotel room near the hospitals where Jeremiah’s grandparents and Jayla could stay. We want to thank you in advance and ask for you to join us in prayer, pray for complete healing so that our little superhero Jeremiah can fight this cancer off quickly!
