Lennox is
Blood Cancer United

When Lennox was eight months old, he bumped his mouth—typical for a newly crawling baby. What wasn’t typical, though, was the injury to his gum didn’t heal. To find out the cause of what appeared to be an infection, Lennox endured painful surgeries and biopsies over the next four months. His parents, Matthew and Hanh, watched as their baby’s condition worsened—without coming any closer to getting answers. By his first birthday, Lennox’s appetite was gone, his skin was pale, and his right eye began to bulge. His development began to regress by Christmas—the light of his spirit dimming.

The search for answers led them to UCSF, where Lennox was admitted as a patient with a potentially infectious disease. Specialists entered his room full of protective gear, treating him like "patient zero."

Matthew and Hanh finally received a devastating diagnosis for Lennox: multifocal single-system Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH),—a rare blood cancer. He had three tumors in his skull. There was one in his jaw—the reason for the gum injury that wouldn’t heal. He had another tumor behind his eye, causing it to bulge, and a third one putting pressure on his brain that eventually caused partial vocal cord paralysis.

Things moved quickly after diagnosis: Lennox had port placement surgery and began treatment. Before he even learned to walk, his new normal was weekly chemotherapy, steroids, and regular hospital visits. Things got more intense when his doctors changed his chemotherapy regimen to four days in a row. Lennox lost his appetite, was sleeping poorly, and made multiple trips to the ER for fevers.

After watching his treatment take such a toll, Lennox’s parents made the brave decision to join a clinical drug trial. Despite the uncertainties of a new treatment, Lennox is doing well and he just finished treatment in December.

Through it all, Lennox has shared his smile with every nurse and doctor, lighting up every room with his laughter and energy. He recently celebrated his third birthday—a milestone his parents feared they might never reach as a family. Lennox’s experience is a reminder that every medical breakthrough brings hope and more time for blood cancer patients and their families.