Support Jelani's Journey to Recovery

Hello I am Sandra. This handsome young man is my 14-year-old grandson, Jelani. He has always been a very unique, clever, amusing child who doesn't mind being different from the crowd. It is one of his characteristics that those of us who love him like best. Unfortunately, that uniqueness has taken an unexpectedly tragic turn. In August, on the first day of his freshman year, Jelani complained of pain in his side and blood in his urine. When his mom took him to the emergency room, the medical team found a golf-sized tumor that we later learned was cancer. Surgeons removed the tumor a couple days later and found a couple more small tumors in his lymph nodes near the kidney during surgery so they removed those too. After biopsy, we learned that Jelani was afflicted with an extremely rare and difficult to treat form of kidney cancer known as Renal Medullary Carcinoma (RMC) which attacks people with sickle cell trait. It is so rare that pathologist had difficulty identifying the form of cancer and had to send it to multiple medical centers to properly diagnosis. Most oncologists will only treat a few if any RMC patients in their entire career. There is only one renowned RMC specialist in the U.S. and he is in Houston, TX while Jelani resides in Indiana. Medical insurance will only cover 60% of Jelani's care in Texas and his mom could use some help in covering expenses. Jelani will begin chemotherapy before the end of September and his treatment will be every two weeks for a year as long as his body can tolerate it. Jelani is being raised by a single mom, my daughter, Tanisha and has three sisters - a twin sister and two-year-old baby sisters who are also twins. During this difficult time, Jelani, his mom, and his sisters could really use some additional funds to help cover expenses and get past this unexpected crisis. If you can contribute, we would appreciate your support. If you cannot contribute but are a person of faith, please keep join us in praying for Jelani's full recovery and restoration a normal teenage life. If you are not a believer but would be so kind as to just send well wishes, that too would be appreciated. We need all the positive energy and encouragement we can come but. It is our most earnest and persistent hope that at the end of all this, Jelani will remain true to form - unique - and one of the very few survivors of this horrible disease. Thank you so much!