Hope, Strength, and Healing for families coping with a child cancer diagnosis

Congratulations to Keaton Kiddo Travis!

Congratulations to Keaton Kiddo Travis who has accomplished a HUGE milestone and is graduating high school!

When he was just 15 years old, Travis and his family heard the devastating news that he was diagnosed with Astrocytoma, a tumor that arises from the star-shaped cells (astrocytes) which form the supportive tissue of the brain. As you can imagine, this was tough for Travis who was in the midst of his teenage years. Due to his diagnosis, Travis was forced to spend most of his Sophomore and Junior years of High School in and out of the hospital, receiving chemo treatment and surgeries. Thankfully, he had the opportunity to join his classmates for online classes during his senior year which created a great sense of normalcy for him.

Now 18 years old, Travis has worked extremely hard to achieve this accomplishment and was accepted into TWO colleges: Culinary School in Napa and the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. Along with being a recipient of the John McLean Scholarship Award by Keaton’s Child Cancer Alliance, Travis has chosen to accept the offer and attend the Academy of Arts University in San Fransisco and will study video game programming, design and art. His goal is to create games for children battling cancer that they can play while in the hospital, enduring treatment.

Congratulations Travis!

Meet Keaton’s Kiddo – Kodiak

In the Fall of 2023, Keaton’s Kiddo Kodiak was diagnosed with two rare and aggressive forms of cancer: Mixed Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) also known as ‘preleukemia.’

Their journey began one year earlier, in the Fall of 2022, when Kodiak was struck with a series of different seasonal illnesses. Kodiak’s mom Tonya shares: “In September, he got COVID, and then in November it was the flu, and then December RSV.”

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Meet Keaton’s Kiddo – Ellora

Months before a clear diagnosis, Ellora was experiencing a loss of appetite, night sweats, and oversleeping. For Ellora, these symptoms were seen as normal for her or seen as natural changes in the growth of a 2-year-old. Eventually, she developed little spots on her hands and unexplained bruises on her body, which the doctors deemed Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), but after seeing an informative TikTok video on the symptoms Ellora was experiencing, her mom’s gut told her it was something more than a bleeding disorder.

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Meet Keaton’s Kiddo – Samerah

14-year-old Samerah, best known as Sam has been battling quite the challenging journey, but with the love and support of her family, friends, and community she has been able to overcome so much. At the very young age of 2 months old, Sam was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis. Neurofibromatosis is not an isolated disorder. It causes several different conditions and can lead to the development of tumors on the brain, spine, and the nerves that send signals between the brain and spinal cord.

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