Every now and then there is a story that really shows how much a cancer diagnosis can affect the entire family beyond just the parents. Cason is one of those. At a very young age, he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Kelsey, Cason’s mom, tells us his story.

Cason was born on March 23rd, 2022. He was born with Down Syndrome which we had found out about when I was 16-weeks pregnant. Shortly after being born, the nurses whisked him away to the NICU. That began our 4-month-long stay. During those 4 months, Cason developed abnormal blast cells, and ever since, he was followed very closely by hematology and Oncology.

Many times we have done routine bloodwork, and most times it comes back with low numbers but never anything to be concerned about. On January 31st, 2024, we went to the doctor for bloodwork. The doctor looked at Cason, did a physical exam, and said she felt okay to send us home. She said she would call with the results later on. We live an hour from the hospital, so I hadn't even made it home whenever I got a phone call. I heard the terrifying words of... “Mrs.McMillian, I have bad news.” My heart sank because I knew what was coming, and it did. His bloodwork came back abnormal and showed signs of leukemia. We were to get to the hospital that night to do a bone marrow biopsy. My mind was everywhere as we have a 3-year-old at home who wasn't going to understand where mommy, daddy, and brother were going and why he couldn't come.

We get to the hospital, did the biopsy, and the results come back as Acute Myeloid leukemia. The doctor assured us that everything would be okay. This typically happens with Down Syndrome kids, and they know what to do to cure this. Chemo round 1 began, and I was bracing myself for the awful side effects I had always heard about. The days go by and Cason doesn't show any side effects, if any. He was just a little more tired than usual. He is still eating, still playing, and still doing his normal routine. Day 22 we finally get to go home. That was a Friday. We came back to the clinic on Wednesday for a routine check and to schedule another biopsy for the next Friday. He gets the biopsy, and we wait for the results. The doctor assures us that she's very hopeful that round 1 killed all the cancer as that is a typical turnout.

We go back to the clinic on Monday to get bloodwork, be readmitted for round 2, and get the results from the biopsy. The doctor comes in and says, "I stuck my foot in my mouth because the chemo barely killed any cells." At the beginning he had 30% and it came down to 9%. While that sounds good, it means his bone marrow is still 20% leukemia.

We change the plan of chemo to start a middle dose, and she's confident it will work. We get admitted and the head doctor who's been working there for 25 years comes in to talk to us. He says, "I've never seen this happen" and continues to say, "This type of treatment always works in kids with Down Syndrome and we're not sure why it didn't work for Cason." He then reached out to multiple hospitals, and ends up talking to a doctor in Toronto, Canada, who is HUGE in the oncology pediatrics world. That doctor says he's only ever seen 6 times that this has happened and to begin him on the highest chemo that can be tolerated. Out of those 6 cases, 3 survived and 3 didn't. He absolutely tore me to pieces when he told us that. We Began round 1 (again) of the highest chemo on Monday, March 4th.

This journey so far has affected us I would say in not the best way. As I mentioned previously we live an hour from the hospital, we have a 3 year old, and my husband still has to go to work. My 3-year-old, Jaxon, has developed really bad anxiety since all of this began, and he never knows whose house he'll be at after daycare. Our routine is I stay Sunday-Friday at the hospital and then I stay Friday-Sunday morning at home with Jaxon so me and my husband switch off and unfortunately, we never see each other.

I would say the hardest obstacle so far would be my family being split apart. Jaxon is the biggest mama's boy. He used to love preschool and now he hates it and cries because we had to switch his whole schedule. He was doing 3 half days, and we've had to switch him to full time, so all of his friends are only there half a day and he screams and cries and hates going now. The one part I hate about this situation is how it's affecting Jaxon.

I just hope to get through this and when we get on the other side I pray so hard that Cason will still be with us. I fully trust God and I feel in my heart that one day we will bring him back home cancer-free.

Since they shared their story with us, a lot has happened. After starting the new chemotherapy regimen, his tests showed that it was not working as well. His only hope at that point was a bone marrow transplant. Cason’s brother, Jaxon was shown to be a match and on June 26th, the transplant took place. On Monday, July 29th, they received some good news. 98% of the cells showed coming from Jaxon. The transplant is working.

If you would like to help out Cason’s family, they have set up a GoFundMe. You can also follow along with their journey via his mother’s Facebook.