The fever went away for about a week, but then came back on Sunday, January 8^th. We took him to a local pediatric ER and received no answers.. they said it’s likely an upper respiratory infection. They told us to visit our pediatrician that Wednesday if he still had a fever. Wednesday, the fever remained. We took him in and I brought pages full of notes from September to January showing the illnesses, tests ran, and appointments we’d had. Dr said it was an ear infection, sent us on our way with an antibiotic and said to call back Friday if the fever remained. Fever was it’s highest that Saturday morning on January 15^th.. so we called and they told us to go to Urgent Care.

Finally on January 14, 2023, at a CHOA Urgent Care in Canton, GA one of the most thorough doctors ran every test imaginable and then asked if he could do bloodwork just to try to give us some answers. He knew we felt defeated having gone so long with our son not being well. “Thank you” will never be enough for this doctor.

After the CBC, he told us it was either an immune suppression disorder or leukemia. My heart sank. I was alone with my son while my husband and daughter (6 weeks old at the time) were at home. I immediately called my mom to come get our daughter from us, and told my husband to come to the urgent care so we could get transferred to Scottish Rite for further testing.

The next day, on January 15, 2023, the flowcytometry test confirmed our son has B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Part of me was relieved that we knew what was going on and that we had the more treatable form of cancer, while part of me was just completed devastated. Austin was also diagnosed with X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy a few days after birth via the newborn screening. I just couldn’t believe in just 2.5 short years our boy could be hit with so much.

We immediately began treatment. Day 1 of treatment started on January 18, 2023. The treatment journey has been tough, especially knowing we have so many more months of this ahead of us. He has endured mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, hair loss (twice), fatigue, c-diff, a lung fungal infection, bone pain, neuropathy, etc. It is awful how many side effects come from this treatment.

On May 19, 2023, we found out Austin was in remission. This was the best news ever. Although we have almost 2 years left of treatment, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Austin’s end of treatment date is May 18, 2025.

He is currently in Maintenance where he takes oral chemo daily, goes into clinic once a month for labs, and he receives IV chemo and a spinal tap with chemo every 90 days. He is also getting ready to start twice a week physical therapy so support him in regaining his strength and balance that chemo has taken from him. He is doing well considering all he has been through.

Faith has gotten us through this. Prayer is why we are still standing and still fighting today.