Tyson has always been such a light in our family and the glue that keeps as all together. He loves his family, enjoys being a big brother and loves everything to do with old cars. One day, while having fun in the car, Tyson all of the sudden stopped breathing and began to turn blue.
Scared we might lose our son, we rushed him to the nearest hospital. Tyson finally came back to but then had a similar incident in front of a team of 8 or so doctors. They decided to intubate him and emergency transport Tyson to Mary Bridge Hospital. After being intubated for about a week and many tests later, we were sent home with few answers. Doctors said Tyson had pneumonia and this was probably related to his breathing issues but would likely not happen again. However while there, they mentioned seeing some sort of shadow in his x-rays and also said he had an enlarged heart but that none of this should affect his breathing, especially once the pnuemonia was gone. We left the hospital with no definitive answers and still very concerned.
Then in September, the second time we would see our son stop breathing and turn blue. Again we went the ER. After finding a “small mass” in his chest x-rays we were once again emergency transported but to Seattle Children’s Hospital this time. That was the day our lives would be forever changed and we lived every parents worst nightmare. Tyson had CANCER,…Lymphoblastic Lymphoma to be exact. The mass was actually quite large and this mass was weighing down on his airway which is what caused Tyson to stop breathing both times!
It turns out that Tyson had been misdiagnosed back in June and likely never had pneumonia at all. The “shadow” that was so unconcerning to doctors before was actually a large tumor our little boy had inside of him.
Treatment began immediately and even though we are still in early stages, this new lifestyle has been extremely difficult to say the least. When it rains it pours. Tyson hates everything about the entire process and cries just about the entire time at any clinic visit or even hospital stays. He is very scared and now getting very sick from the chemo. His hair is gone and by appearance is a very different little guy. He got very chunky after a long month of steroids but now that he is off of them, he has chosen to not eat and feels crummy most days. He is now on a feeding tube daily so his body can still function and fight.
Tyson is such a little fighter and reminds us every day how strong he is and that he just wants to be a little boy. His loving little heart is still the same through it all.
Hope session by Dawn Carlisle Photography | Facebook