Teens & Children

My son, Jaiden was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) on November 21, 2018. Prior to his diagnosis, Jaiden was a very well-rounded athlete and he played almost every sport, until one day during a football he fractured his arm and was done for the season. Needless to say, he was in a cast for 6 weeks.

Toben had entered preschool at 3½ years old, and within a few months, he was getting sick often. He started getting random fevers that would go away in a day. When he got leg and arm pains, we started to get concerned. The pains were so bad that he couldn't walk and would wince when we picked him up or moved him.

My name is Nicolas Hambalek and I am 14 years old. Before my diagnosis I was a completely healthy child, in fact I was rarely ever sick. I played baseball, had straight A’s, and recently had recently got a new puppy. This sense of normalcy came to a screeching halt on January 13, 2018.

In April 2020, three-year-old Cayden began experiencing leg pain and developed an unusual limp that alarmed his mother, Courtney. Soon, the pain progressed to a stiff neck and loss of appetite. Just two weeks later, after multiple tests and doctor appointments, Courtney and her husband would hear the words that every parent fears, "your child has cancer".

In April 2018, our lives were forever changed when we found out that our sweet Jaleah, full of life and personality, had cancer. Sometimes life is unfair—to sit there helpless and scared and then hear the doctor say, “Your child has cancer,” was pure devastation and the worst day of our lives! These words should never be heard by any parents.

We were busy living our daily lives, and Grace had just celebrated her 9th birthday. She was involved in dance and was a normal kid, but cancer came on so quickly and knocked us down.

Lolo was a happy and active 10-year-old when she was diagnosed with pediatric acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) in December 2012. She spent the next six months at Children’s Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, isolated from her classmates and critically ill.