In February 2022, Addison had blood work done after running a fever of 100.4 for over a week. Addison was then admitted to the hospital for an extremely low white blood count. He was given IV antibiotics for a possible blood infection, but overall, doctors believed his WBC was so low due to a recent viral infection, which they said could happen. The week following that, he was back in the hospital. After three days of doing all possible tests and having continued fevers, they transferred him to a different hospital to get a bone marrow biopsy. On March 3, 2022 we received heartbreakingking news that Addison has B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It is a type of cancer that affects your blood and bone marrow.
Addison had a 2.5–3 year road ahead of him in chemotherapy.
Things started out rough for Addison, as he had a bad reaction to one of the chemotherapy drugs, causing an injury to the liver and pancreas. Addison lost all his hair at the beginning of the induction phase, but it was almost fully grown back by month 7. During the first 9 months Addison had to do school virtually and could not go out in public as he was susceptible to illness due to a low immune system. This was a difficult time for both Addison and his family.
In Jan 2023 Addison started in person school again. This was exciting for Addison as he has always been very social with his peers and loves talking and telling jokes to anyone. He started setting goals of being more active again and wanted to gain strength and mobility that were lost during the intense part of his chemotherapy. He started working out and eating a lot of vegetables. He gained a lot of energy and mobility back. We all felt like life was starting to feel normal again.
Now, with a month left of chemotherapy, Addison has even more goals set to be achieved! You’ll find him living his best life hanging out with friends and family, volunteering when he can at school events, and staying involved in a variety of school clubs and sports! This kid is unstoppable and has a new lease on life!
We are so grateful for the generosity of The InVINCEable Foundation! They have helped ease financial responsibilities during a difficult time and gave Addison a start to a bright future by setting up and investing in a college fund.