Shortly after Kayden’s 4th birthday, he began to complain of leg pain in his left leg. He also began limping while he walked in which we had thought maybe was due to a pulled muscle as did his pediatrician in November 2022. We took him to the emergency room on Thanksgiving Day because the pain was worse. They sent us home because an X-ray was done and they didn’t see any visible signs of anything. The ER doctor and nurses seemed to think it was indeed a sore/sprained muscle. They advised us to follow up with his pediatrician the next day. We did just that and the pediatrician said they would do blood work if the pain wasn’t gone in 2 weeks. (If I knew then, what I know now, I would have never let my son leave that pediatrician until they ordered a blood test.) We waited as the doctor recommended and to our amazement, his limping stopped for a few days at the 2-week mark. So, we thought, ok it was indeed a sore muscle.

After another day or two the limping and pain started again. I remember picking him up from school one afternoon and him telling me that now the inside of his arm hurt. At that moment, I was thinking what could it be? That night I will never forget how much pain he was in, in several different parts of his body. The next morning, we took him to the emergency room again but this time a different one that was for pediatrics. This was the first time blood work was done since the pain originally began.  The ER doctor ran a bunch of blood tests and told us he was Anemic. He said he was going to contact a doctor who was going to talk to us further.  He never mentioned an oncology doctor. So an oncology doctor came to talk to us in the emergency room after receiving the alarming blood numbers. The oncology doctor told us that he was Anemic but because of the excruciating pain he had that was reason to believe it may be Leukemia. He also said that they would have to perform a procedure to prove if it was indeed Leukemia.  I will never forget that moment of how I felt. Those were the worst 2 days of my life. This happened the week before Christmas. I will never forget how much he screamed in pain during the night before even finding out it was Leukemia.  Every time we touched or picked him up he would scream.  This is where and when it all began on December 16, 2022.

 Kayden is the strongest, kindest, and bravest boy I know. All his nurses and doctors love when he comes to visit them for his treatments or checkups because he always has a smile on his face and he is happy all the time. He is a very friendly and outgoing little boy. He lights up a room anywhere he goes and he is a friend to everybody. He is the type of kid who will greet you walking down the street even though he has never seen you before. We are almost at the end of treatment and I pray that once we are done with this, this will all be a distant horrid memory. Kayden is in school and is loving it. He is ready to start Kindergarten in the Fall.