Aaron's medical bills
Donation protected
Hi, I am Krista, the mother of two wonderful boys. Our family's story starts with two boys who are five years apart. Both were preemies but we knew something was different with Aaron early on. Aaron wasn't growing quite like our first and on his 32nd week ultrasound we found that his left arm was larger than the other. My friend, the sonographer, struggled with what it could be. My husband, Josh, and I spent the next few weeks wondering, waiting and praying things would be normal.
Enter Aaron at 35 weeks born with a port wine stain on his arm. It was curious but did not seem to bother him. He was x-rayed and tested but the birthmark started to fade and we quietly watched and waited for anything, something.
Four weeks later his arm started to grow. And grow it did. We were sent to Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Hemangioma and vascular malformations center for testing. After many x-rays, ultrasounds and one lengthy MRI he had to have the tumor in his arm biopsied. The jury came back that he had a rare aggressive tumor known as a KHE lesion. The lesion, kaposiform hemangioendothelioma, is an hemangioma on steroids, it destroys everything in it's path much like cancer. The only treatments are chemotherapy and another new treatment found by Dr. Adams, our oncologist, Rapamune, which is a transplant medication that lowers the immunity and starves the lesion effectively stopping it's growth. He has been on this treatment for a year, as we have not done chemo due to his age, and it is responding well. He has had many speed bumps along the way, including a week long stay in the hospital due to cellulitis and his medications cost over $1000.00 monthly as well as monthly antibiotic treatments at Children's due to his many issues with medications. We are hoping to start weening his dose in August as he is doing well right now. In order to care for my son I quit my job of three years to stay at home with him.
Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.
God bless!
Enter Aaron at 35 weeks born with a port wine stain on his arm. It was curious but did not seem to bother him. He was x-rayed and tested but the birthmark started to fade and we quietly watched and waited for anything, something.
Four weeks later his arm started to grow. And grow it did. We were sent to Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Hemangioma and vascular malformations center for testing. After many x-rays, ultrasounds and one lengthy MRI he had to have the tumor in his arm biopsied. The jury came back that he had a rare aggressive tumor known as a KHE lesion. The lesion, kaposiform hemangioendothelioma, is an hemangioma on steroids, it destroys everything in it's path much like cancer. The only treatments are chemotherapy and another new treatment found by Dr. Adams, our oncologist, Rapamune, which is a transplant medication that lowers the immunity and starves the lesion effectively stopping it's growth. He has been on this treatment for a year, as we have not done chemo due to his age, and it is responding well. He has had many speed bumps along the way, including a week long stay in the hospital due to cellulitis and his medications cost over $1000.00 monthly as well as monthly antibiotic treatments at Children's due to his many issues with medications. We are hoping to start weening his dose in August as he is doing well right now. In order to care for my son I quit my job of three years to stay at home with him.
Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.
God bless!
Organizer
Krista Leinberger
Organizer
Hamilton, OH