Nathaniel Hernandez-Our Little Warrior

Our son Nathaniel “Nathan” Hernandez was born on June 5, 2013. He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT) at six months old. Nathan began his fight against cancer in December 2013. He had to undergo a very aggressive treatment plan. Nathan had brain surgery followed by seven months of chemotherapy. He also had high dose chemotherapy which required a rescue stem cell transplant. The last part of this protocol consisted of six weeks of proton radiation.

Nathan’s brain tumor did not grow for two years. He was able to accomplish many milestones during this time. He learned to sit, crawl, and walk. He learned to eat. He had difficulty hearing so we taught him sign language. These were the best two years of Nathan’s life.

A MRI was taken in March 2017 which showed the tumor had begun to grow again. From April 2017-September 2018, Nathan had a second brain surgery along with three additional chemotherapy treatments. All of which eventually stopped working. Nathan was admitted to the hospital in October 2018 due to a lung infection and was immediately placed on life support. He was on life support for a week. The doctors felt Nathan’s lungs had recovered and it would be safe to remove him from life support. Unfortunately, Nathan went into cardiac arrest when they removed him from the ventilator. It took the doctors nine minutes to bring him back to life. Nathan went on to have a third brain surgery four days after the cardiac arrest and a tracheostomy four days after the brain surgery.

Nathan began a fifth chemotherapy treatment in November 2018. This treatment was proving to be effective until a MRI in March 2019 showed the brain tumor had grown significantly. Unfortunately, there were no other treatments available for Nathan. He was placed on hospice on March 11, 2019.

Nathan is a beautiful little boy. He couldn’t live a typical toddler life because his immune system was always weak. We had to limit his exposure to people in order to prevent him from getting sick. His friends were his three siblings and his cat. His nine year brother was his wrestling buddy. His sister was his little nurturer. His oldest brother was his hero. His cat was his best friend. He spent a big part of his day next to his cat. He loved feeding her snacks. He would lay his head on her as if she was a pillow and she never seemed to mind.

We will miss our little boy. He taught us what it means to never stop fighting. We love being a part of his family. It is a honor to be his parents.

Nathan is currently at home and being kept comfortable until the Lord calls him home. He is surrounded by his family who love him. 

Nathan was diagnosed at such a young age, that we did not have life insurance at the time of his diagnosis. The money raised from this GoFund Me account will be used to pay for Nathan’s funeral arrangements and some medical expenses which were not covered by his health insurance. 

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