February 3, 2025

Oliver was allowed to come home Friday before starting chemotherapy this week. Since the cancer is still causing him to have fevers and he has a central line (fevers + central line could mean blood infection and is a medical emergency), we have to go to the ED every night to get IV antibiotics. A small price to pay to allow him to sleep in his own bed and play with his siblings. He is pale, weaker than normal, but otherwise a sweet and happy boy. He has still has energy and is able to play, run, and go outside in the sun. We are so thankful for these few days with us all at home. We should get the call to head to the hospital tomorrow afternoon or evening. We expect to stay about 3-4 weeks in the hospital. Will and I will rotate every other night so one of us can stay with him and one of us can stay with the other kids.

Our oncology doctor told us that the standard chemo regimen does not work well to cure this type of cancer (a rare form of AMKL), so we are starting with a regimen used when kids don’t respond to the first round of chemo in hopes that it will be more successful. When I asked the doctor if this had been tried before, he said this would be the first time he had ever heard of this happening (not something you want your doctor to tell you). Please pray that this will be successful and lead to an immediate bone marrow transplant and complete healing of Oliver’s body. The only silver lining is that this chemo should not be as hard on his body as the standard chemo is.

Please keep praying for our sweet boy. Thank you for walking through this journey with us— your thoughts, prayers, meals, and kindness mean so much to us.