Kieran Hathaway

Kieran Hathaway sadly was taken away too early from his family, friends and loved ones. For everything Kieran went through, Carter and Kevin never thought they would loose Kieran so young much less unexpectedly. Donations to this fund will be used for burial and remembrance of Kieran’s life.

Kieran was a blessing to be around, brightening up a room with his smile and caring for others. For everything he went through in his life he never felt sorry for himself, worked harder than most, lived life to the fullest, and was everything parents want their child to be. For those that don’t know Kieran’s whole story this was taken from his mothers post.

September is Childhood cancer Awareness month and I have been pretty quiet thus far. I see other cancer moms posting pictures and stories and I have liked many of them and shared some. Now it's time for our reality and our story, Kieran was diagnosed in 2007 with stage IV Neuroblastoma, according to our doctors that isn't a cancer you would pick for your child. He endured 8 rounds of high dose chemo, now if you don't know high dose chemo takes your child to the brink of death and then you pump them full of blood products and white blood cell boosters to bring them back only to do it all over again. Kieran's immune system would be completely destroyed after chemo and then in October 2007 he developed a lung infection that would land him 69 days in the ICU and Kevin and I being told that we needed to prepare ourselves for the worst! Once again Kieran fought through but he suffered a collapsed lung and scar tissue so bad in his lung that it only functions at about 50%. Kieran then started his antibody therapy, now if you've never seen a child experience this it has been compared to being electrocuted repeatedly and the pain is so intense that they are given up to 5-6 rescues of Dilaudid daily for 5 days in a row. Kieran would beg me not to take him back to the hospital. Imagine putting your child through something that you know is going to be excruciatingly painful for them and forcing them to do it over and over and over again. Kieran will never be cured he is considered NED but that is as close as we will get. Kieran has seizures as the result of a brain tumor being removed, he has skin cancer due to radiation, he has significant hearing loss due to chemo, he has short term memory loss and learning disabilities because of what chemo and radiation did to him during his formative years, he has 6 teeth that never formed because of chemo. He is at an 50% increased risk of developing a secondary cancer. All this and he never once asks why me and he is a fighter and he is quick witted and he works so hard to keep up with his peers. He has buried more friends than me, Kevin and both of my parents combined.