So last year my boys and I had big plans for their Christmas break. We were going deer hunting for a week, then headed to Sam Rayburn fishing for a week right after Christmas. While we were hunting AJ, my youngest (15) was complaining of back pains. He's an athlete, so I figured maybe he strained something in the weight room and thought nothing of it. His brother CJ shot a deer and AJ didn't get an opportunity.
We do Christmas and then head to the lake. Now AJ is in pain. We end up coming home early due to weather. The boys unload everything and the wife and I notice bruises all over AJ's knees and shins. We decide that we need to make AJ an appointment to see a doctor. On New Years Eve 2023 AJ went to lock up the chickens and fainted in the yard. He was white as a ghost and dizzy when he got back up and came inside. We rushed him to an Urgent Care in town and they did amazing. They pulled blood immediately. When they told us his counts, they basically said that his white blood cells were through the roof and his platelets were single digits. He needed blood and we were headed to Texas Childrens. They still hadn't said the words, but his momma and I knew what was coming.....
We get to Texas Children's and he is immediately admitted and then on January 1st we met the most amazing Pediatric Oncologist in the world! Dr. Schmidt told us that our boy had AML Leukemia. She didnt sugar coat anything, she explained everything, and told us the best path for treatment for our son. He started Chemo within a few days of being admitted. Our world just got flipped upside down.
When your kid, fishing and hunting buddy, the one you've coached at everything he's ever played gets diagnosed with cancer, you go into fight or flight mode. Being a marine I looked at AJ and told him that the foreseeable future is going to suck and that he was going to have to embrace the suck. He was going to win this battle, and that was that. momma and I set a schedule, she was able to work remotely from the hospital room, and I stayed nights with AJ. We got up and walked everyday to keep him active.
AJ was in the hospital a total of 9 months of 2023. He went through 13 rounds of chemo, had some side effects that almost killed him, but never gave up. He had his bone marrow transplant in June. He is in remission, home, and slowly getting back to a new normal.
When AJ was first diagnosed I reached out to everyone I knew looking for a quick hunt for him before things got crazy. A landowner reached out, but it just didn't work out last year. That same landowner reached out to us this year and said that his offer was still there, so we set a date and headed to the hill country (we told momma that it was a lot closer than it was). The ranch was amazing! When he heard that AJ's housing needed to be super clean he offered to let us stay in his guest house and it was super clean. AJ shot this cull buck (his first buck), and couldn't be happier.
I know that this is a long read, but hopefully you see through all of the bad things and see how blessed we were through it all....AJ was blessed to have one of the best Leukemia Oncologists in the country. Both momma and I were able to keep our jobs through all of it. AJ beat Leukemia, and is fishing and hunting again. There are still good people in this world. The outpouring of support that we got from our family, friends, and community was something that I've never been the recipient of.
I'm super proud of my boy, and thrilled to have my little buddy back.
We do Christmas and then head to the lake. Now AJ is in pain. We end up coming home early due to weather. The boys unload everything and the wife and I notice bruises all over AJ's knees and shins. We decide that we need to make AJ an appointment to see a doctor. On New Years Eve 2023 AJ went to lock up the chickens and fainted in the yard. He was white as a ghost and dizzy when he got back up and came inside. We rushed him to an Urgent Care in town and they did amazing. They pulled blood immediately. When they told us his counts, they basically said that his white blood cells were through the roof and his platelets were single digits. He needed blood and we were headed to Texas Childrens. They still hadn't said the words, but his momma and I knew what was coming.....
We get to Texas Children's and he is immediately admitted and then on January 1st we met the most amazing Pediatric Oncologist in the world! Dr. Schmidt told us that our boy had AML Leukemia. She didnt sugar coat anything, she explained everything, and told us the best path for treatment for our son. He started Chemo within a few days of being admitted. Our world just got flipped upside down.
When your kid, fishing and hunting buddy, the one you've coached at everything he's ever played gets diagnosed with cancer, you go into fight or flight mode. Being a marine I looked at AJ and told him that the foreseeable future is going to suck and that he was going to have to embrace the suck. He was going to win this battle, and that was that. momma and I set a schedule, she was able to work remotely from the hospital room, and I stayed nights with AJ. We got up and walked everyday to keep him active.
AJ was in the hospital a total of 9 months of 2023. He went through 13 rounds of chemo, had some side effects that almost killed him, but never gave up. He had his bone marrow transplant in June. He is in remission, home, and slowly getting back to a new normal.
When AJ was first diagnosed I reached out to everyone I knew looking for a quick hunt for him before things got crazy. A landowner reached out, but it just didn't work out last year. That same landowner reached out to us this year and said that his offer was still there, so we set a date and headed to the hill country (we told momma that it was a lot closer than it was). The ranch was amazing! When he heard that AJ's housing needed to be super clean he offered to let us stay in his guest house and it was super clean. AJ shot this cull buck (his first buck), and couldn't be happier.
I know that this is a long read, but hopefully you see through all of the bad things and see how blessed we were through it all....AJ was blessed to have one of the best Leukemia Oncologists in the country. Both momma and I were able to keep our jobs through all of it. AJ beat Leukemia, and is fishing and hunting again. There are still good people in this world. The outpouring of support that we got from our family, friends, and community was something that I've never been the recipient of.
I'm super proud of my boy, and thrilled to have my little buddy back.
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