Aiden is a resilient, extremely smart boy which a heart of gold. He’s a huge dinosaur fanatic and can name off all of the dinosaurs! During his month-long hospital stay, all the nurses and doctors were always so happy to go in and talk to Aiden. He would show them funny songs, try to make nurses laugh, and show them his new puzzle of the day. Aiden finished a 300-piece puzzle before doctors could round that morning!
Aiden was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in June of 2022. He was a healthy 4-year-old kid up until around May when he started having night fevers every night. Aiden was running a fever of 104 and would complain of bone pain. When I spoke to his pediatrician he did blood work right away and reached back out to me the following day saying that the lab had called and said that Aiden had cells that were immature and would be referring me to Seattle Children’s Hospital. We waited a month for an appointment all while he continued to have frequent fevers. I grew more worried and started noticing bruises all over his legs and decreased activity. The day of our appointment finally came and our hope was to get a simple answer and go home but we were taken aback when we had to be admitted to the hospital and eventually had to relocate to Seattle for treatment. Aiden was frightened and did not understand what was happening.
Aiden has undergone 5 surgeries/procedures during his first month of chemotherapy. He underwent emergency surgeries for herniated intestines as well as stent and port placement. He has had bone marrow aspirations as well as weekly lumbar punctures. Our family struggles with the worry that these procedures and treatments will scar him and cause him trauma when he is older. Aiden is unable to move as fast as he used to due to having stents placed, He has also suffered some complications with chemotherapy and developed extremely painful and large kidney stones. He had stents placed to prevent further kidney damage and is awaiting surgery for the stone removal.
Aiden’s cancer diagnosis has completely changed our life. We have had to stop working and move 4 hours away from home to be able to be close to the hospital during treatment. We are living day to day and just hoping to get through all of this, one day at a time.
Hope Session by Erica Moshe Photography | Facebook | Instagram