Cooper S.

We were on our annual Florida Keys vacation for lobster mini season when we noticed Cooper wasn’t feeling well. Thinking maybe he was just dehydrated from being on the boat, we took him to an urgent care in Islamorada. We were told they don’t have pediatric equipment but urged us to go to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami because he did not look good.

On July 23, 2024 our world was forever changed when we got the news Cooper was diagnosed with T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. 

He has undergone 3 rounds of intense chemo in Miami, and although not in complete remission yet, we remain hopeful that God will get him there soon! 

The support of our family, friends, and community have been essential in this journey. We would not be able to do this new life without all their help. It’s good to know our 2 girls are in good hands when we need to focus on getting Cooper better.

Included in this community is Chasin A Dream Foundation. They have helped tremendously with generous financial assistance and toys for all the kids! We are so blessed and forever grateful in this tough time!

Update June, 2025:

Not the update I’d like to be giving this morning. Cooper’s cancer is back again. We were so hopeful that this last treatment would be the answer to our prayers. He was looking so good. Happy, playful, eating. This weekend he took a turn for the worse. We will have a bone marrow aspiration today to see just how packed his marrow is with cancer.

Last Friday, the Drs came in to tell us the cancer had returned and that most hospitals would have stopped treatment by now. Since Cooper still looked so good at this point, we asked them to come up with another plan. They came back with a chemo regimen that would be so harsh on his little body, we aren’t sure he’d make it through, much less be able to make through a transplant after. What’s the point of being in remission if he’d be suffering still.

After much research, and following in the footsteps of a few other friends with this same aggressive disease, we’ve decide to give CAR T therapy another try. Only this time in Rome Italy. The difference in this therapy is that they would use either Coopers own T cells (unlikely since they are covered in cancer) or his genetic perfect match cells, Adelyn. The benefit of this is that his body wouldn’t be spending time fighting off the foreign cells that were trying to fight his cancer. His body would recognize them as his own. They would take her cells, modify them to fight his cancer, and infuse them into Cooper. All with the same hope. To get rid of this cancer.

We are terrified. This is the closest we’ve felt that we might lose our Cooper. He’s been so brave through this whole battle. This is the last treatment though. If this does not work, we will bring him home to live out the rest of his life comfortably. We refuse to sacrifice his quality of life to selfishly have more time.

We need your help. We need prayers harder and more frequent than any you’ve ever prayed. We also need financial assistance. We are extremely grateful for what has been raised so far for our family, but it’s not enough. This will cost an astronomical amount. Not to mention all up front. We’ve been told somewhere in the $300,000 range not including flights, stay, food. This is not a vacation this is a last ditch effort to save our son.