David, who we call “King David” was named after King David in the bible. David is the youngest of 4 children. He loves music and is a very happy energetic boy. He brings a smile to everyone’s face that he meets.
I noticed that David’s belly was getting big. It resembled the shape of a football. His pediatrician said that David was healthy at his 18-month checkup. A week later David had a high fever of 103. He was taken to the urgent care and was diagnosed with an ear infection and was put on antibiotics. Two weeks later the same symptoms appeared. He had a high fever and we weren’t able to break it. He was seen by his pediatrician and was diagnosed again with an ear infection and was given a stronger dose of antibiotics. A few weeks passed and the high fever was back, this time David did not want to eat and was very lethargic. He was taken to the pediatrician and was diagnosed again with another ear infection.
I wasn’t pleased with the diagnosis. I took David to the nearest hospital for evaluation. I requested that they do some blood work on him and to take an x-ray of his stomach because it appeared big and firm. This was April 3, 2017. He was only 19 months old. We were admitted that same day and later in that week he was diagnosed with Stage 3 high-risk Neuroblastoma. Our family has been devastated by the news.
It was hard to balance while David was impatient receiving care. He spends 21 days in the hospital. He is so young and unaware of what is taking place. Our world was turned upside down. No one in our family has childhood cancer and I only knew of one other child that had it. The children’s hospital has became our second home. It was difficult for his older siblings to be separated from him. But with support and prayer, we were able to make it through treatment. David did well with chemotherapy. He breezed right through treatment and was 3 months ahead of schedule. His side effects have been minimal. He was still that happy dancing kid, dancing down the hallway with his IV pole. His tumor resection surgery was a breeze. Hours after surgery he was up and playing. I can only account for 8 days that he was down throughout this whole treatment process. He completed 7 rounds of chemo with 2 stem cell transplants, tumor resection surgery and has completed 2 rounds of chemotherapy and 1 out of 5 rounds of immunotherapy.
Our family moto is ” Fight like a King”. David has slayed his giant!
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