Aiden Rodriguez

Hi, my name is Ann Richard-Farinha, and I am asking for help for my very good friend Patty Evans-Rodriguez and her little boy Aiden. Patty and I worked together in Las Vegas, and she and her husband and their two boys now live in New York. Not too long ago, little Aiden, who is 6 years old and in the first grade, was diagnosed with Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, which is brain cancer.

Below are details about Aiden's diagnosis and treatment. Patty and Jason are doing everything they can to care for their boys and I am asking all of you to do whatever you can to help them in this battle.

We had an MRI on 9/26 when he started having a slight tremor on the left side of his body.

After the MRI, they sent us straight to the PICU at Bernard and Millie Duker Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center in Upstate NY. He underwent a 9 hour brain surgery on 9/28 where they were only able to remove 15% of the baseball size tumor. He had to have a blood transfusion during the surgery due to the loss of blood. 5 hours in, the oncologist came and told us what exactly it was and that it was cancer.

They told us he would need to undergo chemotherapy grouped with radiation or stem cell transplants. Radiation would have taken us to Boston or NYC and Stem Cell treatments would take us to Rochester, NY which is out near Buffalo. When we asked why either radiation or stem cells, they told us that it was possible he had a cancer tumor protein in his blood called P53 - meaning it's genetic. P53 takes radiation off the table as it exacerbates the cancer. It would take weeks for the testing to come back regarding P53.

We got word that he was positive for P53 making this genetic. Two weeks ago, they tested me and Jason. P53 makes him susceptible to other types/kinds of cancer.

We underwent another surgery to have a port implanted into the right upper portion of his chest so that he can receive chemotherapy and all lab work will be taken through that port without blowing out his veins.

We finished round 3 of chemotherapy on Wednesday. We were in Rochester last week where they were able to harvest 25 million stem cells for transplant. He's being treated through The Melodie's Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY. It's an hour and 15 minute drive from home, one way.

He's also being treated by Golisano Children's Hospital at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY. It's a 4.5 hour drive from home, one way.

Jason came off active duty and I'm on leave from work. Each round of chemo is 4 days in the hospital. Stem cell harvesting was 4 days in the hospital and stem cell transplant is projected to be 3 weeks in the hospital in Rochester. We are looking at 4-6 rounds of chemotherapy, 3 rounds of stem cell transplants, and at least 1 more surgery with the possibility of 2-3 more.

He has an excellent team consisting of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Pediatric Oncology, Pediatric Neurology, and Pediatric Geneticist.

Caleb is 9. He's being cared for by a family friend when Jason and I are attending appointments and fighting to save our baby.

Please consider helping!